Yiddish film was part of the modern gust of wind which threatened to destabilize Jewish society during the first decades of the twentieth century and one can find in it reflections of social, psychological and spiritual turmoil.

This cinematic treasure allows for a unique look into three dynamic and most dramatic decades in the Jewish sphere- days full of promise and new opportunities, while at the same time echoing a growing distress and anticipating imminent tragedy.

Various themes and motifs in those films deal with Jewish and gentile myths and legends with the complicated encounter they create. This encounter occurred in a moment of massive immigration of a secularizing Jewish world.

throughout the course we will focus on the way in which those Jewish and gentile myths legends and folk stories penetrated and were expressed through stages and screens. Modern Jewish culture shaken between tradition and modernism both nurtured and was nourished by the cinema medium breakthrough where it frequently reflected and expressed a fantastic reality for diverse Jewish audiences.

Observing this rare cinematic-artistic treasure, Jewish folklore gains relevance for issues of contemporary Jewish identity.