The New Yiddish Cinema: A Renaissance
Tuition: $240 | YIVO members: $180**
This is a live, online course held on Zoom. Enrollment will be capped at about 25 students. All course details (Zoom link, syllabus, handouts, recordings of class sessions, etc.) will be accessible in Canvas. Students will be granted access to the class on Canvas after registering for the class here on the YIVO website.
Instructor: Dr. Eric Goldman
Over one hundred years ago, Yiddish cinema was created. This new artistic movement was the product of both a changing world and a desire to hold onto traditions and ideals that were being questioned by most Jews. But a few years after World War II, with the loss of a majority of Yiddish-speaking Jews, Yiddish movies stopped being made. Thirty years later, however, Yiddish again found itself heard in cinema and for the past forty years, Yiddish language films have continued to be made in Europe, North America, and Israel. Yiddish can now even be heard on streamed television and online videos. We will explore why Yiddish has resurfaced on the screen in each sphere, what has drawn creative artists to making Yiddish-language work, and the themes that they have chosen for their works.
Yiddish Level:
This course will be conducted in English. No previous background in Yiddish is required.
Course Materials:
The instructor will provide all required course materials digitally throughout the class on Canvas.
Suggested Books:
- Goldman, Eric A. Visions, Images and Dreams: Yiddish Film Past and Present (Teaneck NJ: Holmes & Meier Press, 1983, revised 2011)
- Hoberman, J. Bridge of Light: Yiddish Film Between Two Worlds (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992, revised 2010)
Suggested Readings:
- Goldman, Eric A. “The Ten Essential Films of the Yiddish Renaissance.” The Forward (3/8/21)
- Goldman, Eric A. “Revival: A Resurgence of Yiddish Cinema.” Tablet Magazine (1/13/11)
- Kafrissen, Rokhl. “The Gems of Yiddish Film.” Tablet Magazine (5/22/19)
- Margolis, Rebecca. “New Yiddish Film and the Transvernacular.” In geveb: A Journal of Yiddish Studies, 1-30 (2016)
Eric Goldman is adjunct professor of cinema at Yeshiva University and host of “Jewish Cinematheque” on the Jewish Broadcasting Service. He is the author of Vision, Images and Dreams: Yiddish Film Past and Present.
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