Directed by Edgar Ulmer
Starring David Opatoshu, Helen Beverley
Impoverished couple Fishke (David Opatoshu, Exodus) and Hodel (Helen Beverley, Green Fields) dream of life in the big city of Odessa free from the shtetl’s poverty, corruption, and stifling old-world prejudices. The benevolent and enlightened bookseller Mendele (Isidore Cashier as Mendele Mokher Sforim) takes them under his wing.
One of the most important films in the National Center for Jewish
eve of World War II, the film is at once romantic, expressionist,
and painfully conscious of the danger about to engulf European Jewry.
The shtetl denizens’ embrace of superstition over science and modernity amidst a cholera outbreak makes The Light Ahead especially poignant for contemporary audiences. The film’s climax is a mageyfe khasene (plague wedding), a folk ritual believed to ward off disease.
“An astonishing artifact that is equal parts vaudeville schtick, Talmudic exegesis, and ghetto melodrama.” – Village Voice
at the New York Jewish Film Festival in January 2021
Yiddish with English subtitles
Digitally Restored
Running time: 94 minutes
The film will be available
for 72 hours online from:
Friday, February 26th at 5:00 pm through
Sunday, February 28th at 5:00 pm
The film is for
MEMBERS ONLY!
If you are a member - please RSVP to
She will respond with a link and simple
access instructions.
***PLEASE DO NOT SHARE THIS LINK WITH NON-MEMBERS!
We have a finite amount of views based on our membership numbers and want to be sure all of our members have access!
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