,The Shtetl on the Silver Screen: Two Recent Films

The Shtetl on the Silver Screen: Two Recent Films


 

Publication Date: January 2004

Publisher: Association for Jewish Studies; Association for Jewish Studies

Author(s): Jeffrey Shandler; Jeffrey Shandler

Research Area: Culture and religion; Media, telecommunications, and information

Keywords: Film; History; Culture; Ashkenazi Jews

Type: Report

Abstract:

The author examines two films portraying the European shtetl: "Moi Ivan, toi Abraham" (1993) and Train de Vie (1999). The author explains that while these films have more to teach about the perspective of the filmmakers than about the real history of the shtetl, the disaparate conjuring of shtetl imagery exemplified by these films provides an opportunity to consider the range and dynamics of shtetl remembrance, demonstrating the mutability of memory.