The Dybbuk – Film
Berney Theatre
$10 Members | $12 Non-Members

Poland, 1937, 123 minutes, B&W
Yiddish with new English subtitles
Directed by Michal Waszynski – Based on the play by S. Ansky

The Dybbuk (based on S. Alansky’s seminal Yiddish play) weaves a poignant mystical story of the Hasidic shtetls of the late 19th century. It is thought of as perhaps the most artful of Yiddish films and one of the great works of European Expressionist Cinema. It follows the story of two close friends, Sender and Nisn, who vow to marry their first-born children, but when Sender reneges on the vow in order to marry his daughter to a wealthier man, the spirit of Nisn’s son arrives to haunt Lea’s wedding. The film is known for its gorgeously constructed musical and dance interludes and its haunting imagery. The Dybbuk’s creation  brought together all of the best talents of pre WWII Polish Jewry, script writers, composers, choreographers, set designers, and actors.

“One of the most solemn attestations to the mystic powers of the spirit the imagination has ever purveyed to the film reel.” – Parker Tyler, Classics of the Foreign Film