Module Identifier TF32510  
Module Title YIDDISH CINEMA  
Academic Year 2002/2003  
Co-ordinator Dr Mikel Koven  
Semester Semester 1  
Pre-Requisite TF10210 , TF31920  
Course delivery Seminars / Tutorials   20 Hours Seminar.  
  Other   Weekly viewings  
Assessment Semester Assessment   essay 1 - 1000 words   40%  
  Semester Assessment   Essay 2 - 1500 words   60%  

Learning outcomes

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 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.

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.