Gold for Fools

An American Pickle(en)

An immigrant worker at a pickle factory is accidentally preserved for 100 years and wakes up in modern day Brooklyn. He learns his only surviving relative is his great grandson, a computer coder who he can’t connect with.

The Man Without a World(en)

The Man Without a World is credited to the legendary (and imaginary) 1920s Soviet director, Yevgeny Antinov. But the film is anything but old. In fact, Antinov himself is the creation of contemporary filmmaker Eleanor Antin. Her film is a moving, comic melodrama set in a typical shtetl (village) in Poland. The Jews’ struggle against poverty and racial hatred is complicated by their own division into hostile political factions of the religious orthodoxy, assimilationists, socialists, Zionists, anarchists and survivors. While the Jews of the shtetl pursue their loves, politics, religion, business and dreams for the future, the Angel of Death is ever near...

40 Nickels(en)

Based her grandfather’s boyhood in St. Louis, Yasmin Gorenberg tells a story of the pain passed from refugee parents to their children and the hope that can overcome it. “40 Nickels” captures the image of a generation of immigrants to the United States in the 1920’s and 1930’s and through that spotlights the effects of the 1919 pogroms in Eastern Europe. This is a film about parents and children: how trauma never leaves a family, and how hope and resilience is also passed down. It asks the question: Can a new generation look at the world with wonder rather than fear?

The Great Yiddish Love(en)

Set in Berlin and New York's Lower East Side, The Great Yiddish Love stars the self-exiled Marlene Dietrich and her Nazi-endorsed replacement, Zarah Leander. It is a melodrama of love, emigration, and betrayal reassembled from Hollywood, German Ufa and Yiddish films from the 1930s and 40s.

Motel the Operator(yi)

Motel, a poor laborer, loving husband and new father, leads cloakmakers in a strike for better working conditions. When he is severely injured by strikebreakers, his wife, Esther, and infant son are left destitute. Desperate to save her starving child, Esther gives him up for adoption to a wealthy couple, and then commits suicide. The richly-rendered beautiful Yiddish songs by Sholem Secunda featuring Cantor Leibele Waldman and Joel Feig's famous choir are a good example of the bittersweet melodrama in the finest tradition of the Yiddish theater.

A Yiddish World Remembered(en)

Elliott Gould narrates this affectionate look at life in the shtetls of Eastern Europe in the 19th and early 20th centuries. "It's unreal that all this could have just disappeared," says Polish native Mariem Adler Stok, one of the seniors whose memories of this "Yiddish world" give this documentary its life. The hour traces Jewish history in Europe and explores Jews' focus on education, their religious customs, clothing, food, music and theater.

A bissele Glik(de)

The Paper Brigade(fr)

Lithuania, 1941, during World War II. Hundreds of thousands of texts on Jewish culture, stolen by the Germans, are gathered in Vilnius to be classified, either to be stored or to be destroyed. A group of Jewish scholars and writers, commissioned by the invaders to carry out the sorting operations, but reluctant to collaborate and determined to save their legacy, hide many books in the ghetto where they are confined. This is the epic story of the Paper Brigade.

A Little Family Conversation(fr)

The questioning of Jewish heritage and identity via the portrait of a diversed family, across Belgium and the United States.

Welcome to Yiddishland(en)

An upbeat, witty, and timely exploration of a global community of artists creating innovative work in their quest to rediscover and revitalise the endangered Yiddish language. From behind-the-scenes with an acclaimed Yiddish-language version of Yentl in Melbourne, to enjoyably transgressive punk-Klezmer musicians, and Barrie Kosky’s latest trailblazing production in Berlin – the endangered Yiddish language is alive and well in this rousing documentary. The language originated amongst the Jewish community in Eastern Europe, but almost disappeared when more than half of the world’s Yiddish speakers were murdered during the Holocaust. Most of the artists and performers (aka Yiddishists) in the film didn’t grow up speaking Yiddish, but all have found solace, identity, and inspiration in its rich traditions and culture. Ros Horin has mapped a fascinating cultural history.

One Last Afternoon(es)

After 19 years without seeing each other, two former “guerrilleros” reunite to sign their divorce papers. As they catch up with their lives and revisit their shared romantic and political past, they unveil intimate secrets to finally discover who they truly are and how much their country and convictions still hurt them.

Brother Tied(en)

When Cal's brother Aaron forms a disliking towards Cal's new friend, suddenly they find their fraternal connection fading away which poses a big problem for them both.

Required Field(en)

Serial killer 'NO1KNOWS' managed to elude the police for years. In fact they didn't even know he existed until, by chance, his video and audio recordings were found. By examining the recordings police were able to solve a number of murders around the world - although many men featured in the recordings were never found and it is unclear how many other victims there were since most of the video and audio recordings were destroyed (presumedly by NO1KNOWS himself).

The Sun and the Moon(en)

Her deepening affair with a separatist spurs a wealthy Manhattanite to return to the Bronx, where she grew up, and reevaluate her Puerto Rican cultural roots.

Young Hyacinth(en)

Set in the 1950s, this prequel to Keeping Up Appearances looks at the life, relationships, and aspirations of 18-year-old Hyacinth. Long before she becomes Mrs. Bucket (pronounced Bouquet), young Hyacinth is already dreaming of matching china and a bedroom in pastel shades. If only her family were more like the upper-class Cooper-Smiths in whose home Hyacinth works as a maid.

The House of Ramón Iglesia(en)

Ramón Iglesia, the head of a Puerto Rican family living in Long Island, encounters difficulties fulfilling his dream of moving back to Puerto Rico. Portrays many of the hardships faced by Puerto Ricans and other Hispanics in the United States, including confrontation among family members as traditional Hispanic values conflict with American values.

The Other Side of the Mountain(ko)

During the Korean War, a young nurse in the small town of Chunamri, North Korea, saves a wounded South Korean soldier who has been left behind during battle. Brought together by the unfortunate circumstance of war, theirs is a fateful meeting. His identity is unknown to her until he must return to South Korea. With the promise to return, the nurse waits a lifetime for him.