This summer, Tuesday is the night for Jewish-themed films at the Southampton Arts Center (SAC). All the movies to be screened celebrate the Jewish experience as a part of the Southampton Jewish Film Festival, which began July 9. The next film, on August 13, is “The Dybbuk,” a 1937 Yiddish film directed by Michael Waszynski that is based on the celebrated play of the same name by S. Ansky, written during the turbulent years of 1912-1917. The idea for the play came to Ansky as he led a Jewish folklore expedition through small towns of Eastern Europe, which was cut short by the outbreak of World War I. “The Dybbuk” reflects Ansky’s deep perception of the shtetl’s religious and cultural mores. Plans to produce the play in Russian by Stanislavsky’s Moscow Art Theater in 1920 were aborted by the Bolshevik Revolution. Ansky, who died in 1920, never lived to see his play produced. The play however, was destined to become one of the most widely-produced in the history of Jewish theater.
The film version was made on location in Poland in 1937 and brought together the best talents of Polish Jewry, script writers, composers, choreographers, set designers, actors and historical advisors. The musical and dance interludes evoke the cultural richness of both shtetl communities and Polish Jewry on the eve of World War II.
Guest speaker at the screening will be Barbara Cole Sickmen, a lyricist, composer and recording artist who has performed on stage with Eddie Fisher, Jerry Vale, Alan King, Buddy Hackett, George Jessel, and Jackie Mason. The movie begins at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are $15 at brownpapertickets.com and at the door of the Southampton Arts Center, 25 Jobs Lane, Southampton Village.
The last film in the series will be “Monsieur Mayonnaise” screening on August 20. For more information, visit southamptonjewishfilmfestival.com.
Staff Writer on Jul 5, 2019