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DECEMBER 10-30
Documenting a culture under pressure from urbanization—and soon to be all but annihilated by the Nazis—the shtetl films of the ’20s and ’30s were made in Eastern Europe (and, sometimes, New York or New Jersey) for a Yiddish-speaking audience still connected to small-town Jewish life. Village Voice film critic J. Hoberman will introduce the first film in the series, The Dybbuk, a tale of a bride possessed by the spirit of her true love, which is perhaps the best-known example of this eclectic genre (Dec. 10, 6 p.m.). Also included are Jewish Luck, in which a daydreamer becomes an unlikely hero (Dec. 16, 2 p.m.); Tevye, the 1939 version of the Sholem Aleichem play later transformed into Fiddler on the Roof (Dec. 17, 6 p.m.); The Light Ahead, in which a country couple dreams of life in sophisticated Odessa (Dec. 23, 3 p.m.); and Yiddle With His Fiddle, the tale of a young woman who disguises herself as a man to join a group of musicians who end up in Manhattan (shown with Green Fields (pictured), Dec. 30, 2:30 p.m). At the National Gallery of Art’s East Building Auditorium, 4th & Constitution NW. FREE. (202) 737-4215. (Mark Jenkins)