© The National Center for Jewish Film
© The National Center for Jewish Film
Silent film with live music by Miloš Orson Štědroň in the unique space
of the Spanish Synagogue
Directed by Alexander Granovsky, SSSR, 1925, 100 min
Silent, with English and Czech intertitles
Print restored and digitized by The National Center For Jewish Film, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA
The film is based on the stories of the renowned Jewish writer Sholem Aleichem. The main character, Menakhem Mendl (played by Solomon Mikhoels) is a typical luftmensch who tries to devise various get-rich business schemes despite all the hardships of Jewish life in Tsarist Russia. His perseverance and habit of daydreaming transforms him from a standard schlemiel to a transatlantic tycoon...
Featuring some of the finest artistic talents of Soviet Jewry, this unique film arose out of a dramatized version first staged by the Moscow State Yiddish Theater (GOSET), whose founder and first director was Alexander Granovsky. In the lead role he cast the company’s leading actor Solomon Mikhailovich Mikhoels.
The newly composed film score will be performed by pianist and composer Miloš Orson Štědroň. Orson, who works regularly with the National Theater in Prague, is also the author of the hit production The Cabaret of Ivan Blatný (nominated in 2007 for the Alfred Radok Prize in the music category) and Cabaret Hašek based on Jaroslav Hašek short stories, which will be premiered this fall at the A Studio Rubín in Prague. For more information on Orson’s work please visit www.orson.cz .
Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Bonus: Guided tour of the Spanish Synagogue in Czech at 6.30 pm
In cooperation with Strings of Autumn music festival
© The National Center for Jewish Film