New streaming service for fans of Jewish Cinema 'Chai Flicks' launches

After Netflix rejected recent offering of “1945,” Neil Friedman, Heidi Bogin-Oshuin, and Bill Weiner decided to launch Chai Flicks to keep Jewish films accessible to the public.

A still from the movie ‘1945’ showing the two Jewish protagonists at a railway station in rural Hungary (photo credit: COURTESY OF FERENC TÖRÖK)
A still from the movie ‘1945’ showing the two Jewish protagonists at a railway station in rural Hungary
(photo credit: COURTESY OF FERENC TÖRÖK)
"Chai Flicks," a new streaming service dedicated to Jewish cinema, aims to bring content to those who frequent Jewish film festivals, USA today reported.
After Netflix rejected recent offering of 1945, a post-Holocaust story set in Hungary, Neil Friedman, Heidi Bogin-Oshuin, and Bill Weiner decided to launch Chai Flicks to keep Jewish films accessible to the public.
Weiner, a former studio executive, estimates that there is an audience of “hundreds of thousands” who want to see the films that Chai Flicks will be offering, and thinks that people are “hungry for films like this.”
Two major streaming services aimed at broad audiences have launched in 2020, HBO Max and NBC’s Peacock, but Chai Flicks would join the numerous niche services aimed at specific audiences.  According to Weiner “running a niche service is actually easier than going broad” because it allows them to be focused on reaching specific customers.
Chai Flicks costs $5.99 a month and offers a two-week free trial. It is available on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV, as well as computers, tablets and phones.