Sarah Podemski shares how The Floaters brings Jewish joy, summer camp nostalgia, and rare authentic representation to the screen.

Recently kicked out of her band and desperate for direction, Nomi (Jackie Tohn) reluctantly takes a job at Camp Daveed, the Jewish summer camp she once attended—now run by her childhood best friend, Mara (Sarah Podemski). With the camp in disarray (including a catastrophic plumbing failure), Mara assigns Nomi to supervise a group of misfit teens known as the floaters, who don’t quite fit in with the camp’s traditions or cliques.

Rachel Israel directed The Floaters from a script by Brent Hoff and Andra Gordon & Amelia Brain, and a story by Hoff, Becky Korman, Lily Korman, and Shai Korman. The film stars Jackie Tohn, Sarah Podemski, Aya Cash, Judah Lewis, Nina Bloomgarden, Jake Ryan, Ben Krieger, Max Samuels, Jim Kaplan, Jacob Moskovitz, Thani Brant, Jillian Jordyn, Bekah Zornosa, Jill Kargman, Maxwell Jacob Friedman, Dan Ahdoot, with Seth Green and Jonathan Silverman and Steve Guttenberg.

The Floaters was shot at Camp Tel Yehudah in Barryville, New York, a real-life camp founded in 1948 and run by Young Judaea, the oldest Zionist youth movement in North America.

The film recently held its world premiere in June at the 2025 Bentonville Film Festival. Next up is the closing night screening of the 2025 San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.

It’s so nice to meet you today. How are you doing?
Sarah Podemski: Hi, I’m good. Nice to meet you.

I feel that films like The Floaters are especially important right now as they provide a source of Jewish joy at a time when antisemitism is the worst it has ever been in my lifetime.
Sarah Podemski: Yeah. Jewish joy is key right now and also, humor and being able to connect with the community in a really positive way.

This film has a lot of love in it, too, which is just a good reminder for us to keep the love going.

What was it about the script that drew you to the character?
Sarah Podemski: I had just never seen anything like it and it was really exciting to see such a unique take on the summer camp experience. I had my own summer camp experiences and I had never seen or read anything like it.

I thought it was really unique and really special and I still think it is. Seeing the film is just such a treat because it gives people a point of view and a perspective that I don’t think they’ve really gotten before of our community in this way.

I think it’s a really universal story. It’s about friendship, love, connections, and community. I think it’s really for anybody who wants to laugh and just take a trip down memory lane. It’s very nostalgic.

Yeah. I missed out on that whole going away for weeks at a time summer camp experience. I just went to the local JCC, except for the two weeks I spent at Beber in Mukwonago, Wisconsin for CLTC through BBYO.
Sarah Podemski: It’s very similar though. It’s all the very similar dynamics of being a teenager and moving through your awkwardness with relationships.

I don’t know if your experience was very political, but we always did very political activities and we were like little activists. We understood that we had a legacy and that we had a history and that it was really important to keep that in mind when we were living our lives and growing into adults.

I feel like even if you were at day camp or summer camp, the experience of all those organizations, they all had the same goal, which was reminding us of our responsibility as Jews in the community and our responsibility to the world.

Did working on the film bring back any nostalgic memories?
Sarah Podemski: Oh, totally. We shot in a camp. It was crazy.

We shot in this summer camp and it was wild to be in the cabins, be in the Beit (inaudible), and to just smell the smells. It was wild. It was really wild.

I didn’t anticipate ever spending as much time as I did on this film back at Jewish summer camp, but it was really special. It was really cool.

What do you typically look for in a character when you’re reading a script?
Sarah Podemski: If I’m lucky and I have the opportunity to find something that’s a really unique perspective that I haven’t seen before, that is such a treat. A character who is not someone we get to see every day, because I think there’s a lot of repetition in film and television.

It’s our job as actors to find that unique perspective, but sometimes a character comes along or a film comes along where you just really have—we haven’t been invited into these lives before.

This script had that, where I read it and I was like, oh my G-d, I know this woman. I know this culture. I know this. I know this. I can feel it. I understand it in so many ways and that’s really exciting.

If I can have a personal experience and be able to bring my life story to it, that’s always just really exciting.

I know that indie films are usually low on time and budget. How much room was there for rehearsal and building up chemistry with other cast members?
Sarah Podemski: For me, there wasn’t a lot. But thank goodness, everyone was such a beautiful joy to work with. I felt connected to everybody as soon as we met them.

I think it was such a small production and we were all sharing in this very unique experience of shooting in the camp. The bonding happened very quickly.

Everybody was just excited to tell this very Jewish story. It’s really rare that you go to a set and all the actors are Jewish and such a diverse group of Jews, which is so important. I think it was just really exciting.

Everybody was just excited to be there. You can feel it. Everyone was just totally game and it was really fun.

Yeah. I wasn’t sure if all the actors were Jewish, but that’s definitely good to know because it really helps with that authentic representation.
Sarah Podemski: Yeah, it’s really important. It’s really important. I think we don’t see it enough. I think now we’re starting to see—I dealt with that as a Native actress where there’s a lot of non-Native people acting in Native roles.

That’s just been something that’s been happening since the beginning of cinema, but I didn’t really realize that it really happens for Jewish stories, too. I was thinking, Oh my gosh, that’s so crazy. Even when I go on set, not only am I the only Native person, I’m sometimes the only Jewish person.

I do this other show called Reservation Dogs and had this incredible experience being with all Native filmmakers and Native actors. And then, I got to do this film, which was all Jewish creators and Jewish actors.

I thought, Whoa, I actually have never had this experience before. It’s very, very powerful and very unique.

Yeah. There’s another film playing right now in theaters that does have that authentic Jewish experience with Jewish actors in the Jewish roles. It turned out to be one of my favorite films from last year.
Sarah Podemski: Which film is it?

Bad Shabbos, which—
Sarah Podemski: Oh, yes! I want to see it. I heard it’s so good.

It’s hilarious. I saw it during Tribeca. Well, I was covering remotely. It took three attempts just to get the screener to work. I was about to give up and then the third time it played it full. I fell in love.
Sarah Podemski: Oh my gosh. Okay, yes. I need to see this.

I watched the film last night, and of course, right as I’m hearing about what’s happening overseas so headspace and focus have been tough.
Sarah Podemski: Yes. Yeah, it has. It really has. It’s not a comfortable time, for sure.

I think more than ever, being able to have some Jewish joy, some Jewish laughter, and to come together as a community is really important.

We’ve been through it all as the Jewish community. We really have.

I just love this film because it has a lot of heart in it. I just keep trying to think of just lead with that, remember to lead with love and to lead with heart and to be kind to ourselves in such a time of, ugh, just discomfort.

Yeah. Right now, it’s Pride month and here I am not feeling welcome or safe in general LGBTQ spaces just for the mere fact of existing as a Jew.
Sarah Podemski: Yeah. Yeah, I can’t imagine that.

I think a lot of people who are mixed identity, for me being Native and Jewish, and then speaking to a lot of Jews of Color, it has been a complicated time to hold space for both communities.

I keep going back to just whenever we need to just shut off social media or shut down just to be able to sleep at night and take care of our mental health. I think that’s just how I’m going about it day by day.

What can I do to just take care of my brain and my heart?

I feel like there’s definitely a longer conversation to be had there, but we’re out of time.
Sarah Podemski: Oh my gosh, yes.

It was so nice talking with you. Have a good weekend.
Sarah Podemski: Nice to meet you, too. You too.

The Floaters held its world premiere during the 2025 Bentonville Film Festival in the Narrative Competition. Upcoming screenings include the 2025 San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.

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