Join us IN-PERSON at Temple Ahavat Shalom on Thursday, March 23, 2023
7:00PM-9:30PM EDT
For a Screening of CITY WITHOUT JEWS
Silent Film with Live Original Music

 

About the Film:

Alicia Svigals and Donald Sosin have been bringing audiences to their feet throughout the US and Europe with their unique and stirring violin and piano scores for Jewish-themed silent films. Sosin is one of the world’s top silent film musicians, and Svigals is the world's leading klezmer violinist and a founder of the Grammy-winning Klezmatics.  After meeting at a silent film festival in Italy, the two soon recorded their first original score for the 1923 German film The Ancient Law, followed by City Without Jews and The Man Without a World.

 

The City Without Jews, (Die Stadt ohne Juden) H. K. Breslauer’s 1924 silent masterpiece, is based on the bestselling dystopian novel by Hugo Bettauer.  It was produced two years after the book’s publication and, tragically, shortly before the satirical events depicted in the fictional story transformed into all-too-horrific reality.   All complete prints were thought to be destroyed, but thanks to the discovery of a nitrate print in a Parisian flea market in 2015, this “lost” film can once again be appreciated in its unfortunately ever-relevant entirety.     Set in the Austrian city of Utopia (a thinly-disguised stand-in for Vienna), the story follows the political and personal consequences of an anti-Semitic law passed by the National Assembly forcing all Jews to leave the country. At first, the decision is met with celebration, but when the citizens of Utopia eventually come to terms with the loss of the Jewish population – and the resulting economic and cultural decline – the National Assembly must decide whether to invite the Jews back. Though darkly comedic in tone and stylistically influenced by German Expressionism, the film nonetheless contains ominous and eerily realistic sequences, such as shots of freight trains transporting Jews out of the city. The film’s stinging critique of Nazism is part of the reason it was no longer screened in public after 1933. For a more in-depth look: https://www.flickeralley.com/screenings/the-city-without-jews/

 

Run Time: 80 Minutes

CITY WITHOUT JEWS Trailer

Tickets: $10 per Person

The Jewish Federation of Florida’s Gulf Coast is pleased to announce a special Real to Reel Film Series opportunity, IN-PERSON at Temple Ahavat Shalom (1575 Curlew Rd, Palm Harbor, FL 34683).

The March screening selection is CITY WITHOUT JEWS, A Silent Film with Live Original Music taking place on Thursday, March 23rd, 2023 at 7PM. Tickets are $10 per person and can be purchased at the link above. The event will feature a community conversation after the film. This event is in collaboration with Temple Ahavat Shalom.

 

About this event:

The format of the event includes the opportunity to engage live with members from throughout the community. An On-Demand Viewing Link will NOT be available for this film due to licensing restrictions. Please email info@JewishGulfCoast.org to inquire further. 

 

Sponsored by Sue Heyman and Mike White.
Thank you to R2R Committee Members:

Phyllis Tauber (Chair)
Mike Tauber
Janet Hammer
Sam Hammer
Ted Glatt
 

The City Without Jews: Silent Film with Live Music Score is funded by Sunrise Foundation for Education and the Arts.