historical drama / France, Ukraine / 112’ / Noir & blanc / status : completed / long feature-film / French collections
In one continuous shot, SHTTL shows the lives, loves, and inner conflicts within a Yiddish speaking shtetl on the border between Ukraine and Poland – one day before the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.
A young, aspiring filmmaker returns from Kyiv to his rural village on the border between Ukraine and Poland. He plans to run away with his true love who is engaged to another man, disrupting the balance of the whole town. In one unflinching shot, this film presents a day in the life of a Jewish village before it disappears.
SHTTL is the story of the inhabitants of a Yiddish Ukrainian village at the border of Poland, 24 hours before the Nazi invasion, known as Operation Barbarossa. Today, there are no such villages in existence; the production fully reconstructed a traditional ‘Shtetl’ outside of Kyiv, which is planned to be turned into a museum.
Press
«The Best International Feature of the Year! One of the all-time great films about Jewish life in Eastern Europe. Exacting, immersive, and powerful—a film that rewards close attention.»
Danielle Solzman
«A CINEMATIC TRIUMPH! Shot in one take, in Yiddish, and under threat of invasion, “Shttl” rebuilds a lost Jewish village with haunting authenticity. Ady Walter may have the most chutzpah of any Jewish director in recent years.»
Alan Zeitlin
