Module Identifier TF32510  
Module Title YIDDISH CINEMA  
Academic Year 2001/2002  
Co-ordinator Dr Mikel Koven  
Semester Semester 1  
Pre-Requisite TF10210 , TF31920  
Course delivery Seminar   20 Hours  
Assessment Continuous assessment     40%  
  Essay   2500 word essay   60%  

Aims


The aims of this module are two fold: one is to introduce students to the Yiddish language cinema which flourished in the United States and in Poland during the 1930s, a `Golden Age? which saw minority language filmmaking aimed primarily at a North American immigrant audience; and the second aim is to use these films and this little studied period of filmmaking history as a paradigm for a discussion on minority language filmmaking in general.


Learning Outcomes:


Typically, upon completion of this module, students will be able to:
- explore the specific nature and dynamics of Yiddish cinema;
- understand through this the role of minority-group culture in the cultural development and cohesion of a community;
- understand the diversity of symbolic and other resources available to minority culture filmmakers in the pursuit of their objectives.


Content:


10 x 2 hour seminars on the following subjects: The Yiddish Language; Ost und West as a proto-example; Joseph Green; Shund and Melodrama; Religious Cinema; The Yiddish Stage; Images of America; The Assimilation Debate; and Jewish Humour.

Reading Lists

Books
** Essential Reading
Paskin, Sylvia (ed.). (1999) When Joseph Met Molly: A Reader on Yiddish Film. Five Leaves Publications
Goldberg, Judith N. (1983) Laughter Through Tears: The Yiddish Cinema. Rutherford, Madison, and Teaneck: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
Goldman, Eric A. (1983) Visions, Images, and Dreams: Yiddish Film Past and Present. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press
Hoberman, J. (1991) Bridge of Light: Yiddish Film Between Two Worlds. New York: The Museum of Mordern Art and Schoken Books
Essential Viewing:.
Ost und west (US/Austria, 1923, Sidney Goldin).
Yidl mitn Fidl (Poland, 1937, Joseph Green).
The Jester (Poland, 1937, Joseph Green),.
A Letter to Mother (Poland, 1938, Joseph Green).
Mamele (Poland, 1938, Joseph Green).
The Vow (Poland, 1937, Henryk Szabo).
The Dybbuk (Poland, 1937, Michael Waszynski).
Mirele Efros (USA, 1939, Josef Berne).
Greenfields (USA, 1938, Edgar G. Ulmer).
Uncle Moses (USA, 1932, Sidney Goldin).
Tevye (USA, 1939, Maurice Schwartz).
The Cantor's Son (USA, 1937, Ilya Motylef).
American Matchmaker (USA, 1940, Edgar G. Ulmer).
Leon the Pig Farmer (UK, 1992, Vadim Jean and Gary Sinyor).
Solomon and Gaenor (Wales, 1999, Paul Morrison).