Seven days of silence. No phones. No talking. Just you and whatever your mind serves up.
I've been working on this film for seven years. I'd love to share it with you.
Toronto Premiere — Wednesday, April 29 · 7:15 PM · Get TicketsThe first documentary to take audiences inside an extended silent meditation retreat — not to explain meditation, but to show what actually happens when sixty people sit still, together, for seven days.
Filmmaker Jonathan Perlman arrives at a retreat center in the California desert for seven days of silence. Ten hours a day of sitting and walking meditation. No phones, no books, no conversation. Nothing to do but be with whatever the mind serves up — hour after hour, day after day.
The film follows his journey alongside other participants: the restlessness that arrives on day two, the judgments and racing thoughts of day three, and then — around the fourth day — something unexpected. A stillness. A clarity. Participants describe feeling fully alive, some for the first time.
The retreat is led by Rabbi James Jacobson-Maisels, who came to meditation practice to confront his own depression. His evening talks draw on Buddhist teaching, modern psychology, and Jewish wisdom — weaving them together in ways that feel personal rather than academic. But the film's subject is universal: what happens when we stop running from ourselves long enough for something deeper to emerge.
"It was such an embodied experience — as if the sun was coming out of my heart. And all of the little things, the impatience, I could still feel them but they were so small."Danit, retreat participant
"I am just feeling energized in a way that I don't normally feel in my day-to-day life. Before I attended my first retreat I didn't even know it was possible to feel this way."Jonathan, filmmaker
"I was able to get to feelings I hadn't had in years. Now I can use that time wisely and connect with my children in a way I never have before."Adriane, retreat participant
"I had this heart-opening experience, realizing I've never felt like I was really at home. I felt, for the first time, at home."Joe, retreat participant
Come feel what they felt. April 29th.
Get TicketsA scene from the retreat — working with restlessness, fear, and the first signs of opening.
Not a lecture. Not a wellness workshop.
Part cinema, part interactive exploration into yourself and your heart.
A different doorway into meditation.
What happens when you take Jewish language out of the synagogue and into the body? The words don't change. You do.
30 minutes inside a world most people will never enter. The film does the work of opening the room — no explanation needed.
A local meditation teacher introduces basic meditation — drawn from what the audience just watched. Not theory. Direct experience.
Facilitated partner work in the art of listening without fixing, advising, or responding. Simple. Revelatory.
A closing exercise that invites participants to process what surfaced — through writing, reflection, or simply sitting with what arose.
This is the evening. April 29th, Innis College. Come.
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For over a decade, meditation felt like something that worked for other people. Jonathan tried everything — mindfulness apps, weekly groups, thirty-minute sits — and nothing clicked. Then he spent seven days in silence in the California desert, and everything changed.
He went back. And again. Over nine years and multiple retreats, he began filming — not to make a meditation tutorial, but to capture something he couldn't explain: what happens when the nervous system fully settles and something unexpected wakes up inside.
The result is his first documentary in twenty years. It was made for anyone who, like him, thought meditation didn't work — until it finally did.
Some of you have heard me talk about this film for years. It's finally here. It works. I'd love to share it with you in a great cinema, and bring you along into something that's become deeply important to me. — Jonathan
In the weeks before the screening, I'll send short clips from the film and reflections from the retreat — how the heart opens, how you might feel more connected and alive doing meditation like this, and what happened for the participants. Think of it as receiving the keys before you walk through the door.
Send Me the KeysInnis Town Hall, University of Toronto
2 Sussex Ave (Bloor & Spadina)
Doors 7:00 PM · Program 7:15 – 8:45 PM
Film screening + guided meditation + deep listening + live chanting
Your guides for the evening: Rabbi Jordan Bendat-Appell — seeker, storyteller, kayaker, and hot yoga devotee who has been practicing mindfulness meditation for nearly 30 years. He both attends and leads silent retreats as Senior Faculty at the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. Along with Jonathan Perlman — the filmmaker who spent seven years making this film, a decade attending retreats, and still can't fully explain what happens on day four. And a guest musician.
Early bird: $20 (before April 2) · Regular: $25
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Interested in watching the film, hosting a screening, or bringing the 90-minute program to your community? Let's talk.
jonathanperlman1 [at] gmail [dot] com