Practically unknown Yiddish-language films from the 1920s and 1930s will be among the highlights of a 10-day festival of Jewish culture in Turin, beginning Tuesday and ending April 21.
Live theater and music concerts also will be featured at the festival, organized with the assistance of the Turin Jewish community and the Piedmont regional cultural office.
The Yiddish cinema is a chapter of film history that was virtually unknown until the end of the 1960s, said Roberto Turigliatto, who selected the films to be shown. Between the first and second world wars, he explained, a rich collection of Yiddish films were produced, mainly in New York and Warsaw — where there were active Yiddish theaters. Often they used the same actors, the same casts, he said.
The festival is an attempt to clarify the Jewish contribution to the story of European culture, said Giorgio Guazzotti, one of the organizers. A series of conferences and lectures will take place to fulfill this goal, he said.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
