About this Event
When asked if he believed in ghosts, French philosopher Jacques Derrida playfully responded that "Cinema is the art of Ghosts, a battle of phantoms. … It's the art of allowing ghosts to come back." Despite, or rather, on account of, the dramatic disappearance of non-Hasidic Yiddish speakers in the 21st century, that cinematic battle is increasingly fought by Yiddish speaking phantoms. In the last two decades, a surprising number of television programs and films have incorporated Yiddish dialogue within larger non-Yiddish works, strategically deploying the language for its ability to evoke nostalgia, horror, and the fantastic. And in its fascinating and lively afterlife, the iconic cinematic Dybbuk of 1937 has been transformed into the 21st century's "Dybbuk Shmybuk, I said, ‘More Ham." How did it, and we, get there?
Rokhl Kafrissen is a journalist, cultural critic, teacher, and playwright. She regularly teaches classes on "Everyday Ashkenazi Magic" and in 2023, she taught a new class for the Yiddish Book Center, “Between Heaven and Earth: Yiddish Women's Folklore, Rituals, & Magic.” Rebecca Margolis is Professor and Pratt Foundation Chair of Jewish Civilisation at Monash University. A scholar of Yiddish cultural studies, she is the author of Yiddish Lives On: Strategies of Language Transmission. Her current research deals with Yiddish in film and television since 1950.
Event Venue
Online
AUD 0.00