Shttl (Yiddish: שטטל, Ukrainian: Шттл) is a 2022 Ukrainian–French one-shot drama film written and directed by Ady Walter and starring Moshe Lobel and Saul Rubinek. The film depicts the lives of a Jewish shtetl on the eve of Operation Barbarossa. It was filmed in Ukraine six months before the 2022 Russian invasion.
"Shttl" premiered at the 2022 London Film Festival, and won the Audience Award one week later at the Rome Film Festival.
The missing 'e' in the title (normally spelled "shtetl") is a reference to Georges Perec's La disparition, a 1969 novel which doesn't contain the letter. The missing 'e', in French pronounced the same way as "eux" (they), represents, according to Walter, their absence, the void left behind in the Shoah; Perec's father died in the war, and his mother was killed in Auschwitz.
On September 8, 2023, it was announced that "Shttl" is on the shortlist to represent Ukraine for the 96th Academy Awards.
The film received two Golden Dzyga nominations by the Ukrainian Film Academy for its cinematography and production design.
Plot.
Mendele, an aspiring filmmaker, has left his Hasidic community and joined the Red Army. On June 21, 1941, he returns to his shtetl in Western Ukraine, along with his Ukrainian best friend, Demyan. They plan to run away with the Rebbe's daughter, Yuna. However, she is already set to marry Folie, a zealous Hasid hoping to succeed the Rebbe as leader of the shtetl.
The Soviet Union has already been infiltrating the shtetl, indoctrinating the community with Soviet propaganda, and threatening the Jewish way of life. The conflict of contemporary ideologies is inflamed by Mendele's presence, as he speaks with old friends and intervenes in local matters.
Meanwhile, just across the border with Poland, Nazi Germany is preparing for their imminent invasion of the Soviet Union.
Production.
In March, 2021, the Ukrainian press announced plans to film "Shttl," a co-production between Ukrainian, French and Belgian producers, with the support of the Ukrainian State Film Agency.
Production designer Ivan Levchenko and art director Iuliia Antykova constructed a village 60 kilometers from Kyiv. The crew built 25 buildings, including one of the largest hand-painted synagogues in the world, and collected historical artifacts from all over Ukraine to fill the sets.
Cinematographer Volodymyr Ivanov filmed a series of long shots, which were then edited by Jérémie Bole du Chaumont to have the appearance of one continuous shot. Most of the film was shot in black-and-white, with flashbacks done in color.
On September 1, 2021, "Deadline Hollywood" reported that principal photography on the film had wrapped. The set was to be turned into a museum, but now remains inaccessible due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Music.
The film's score was composed and conducted by David Federmann, combining elements of jazz, classical and klezmer with modern cinematic music. The soundtrack also features traditional Yiddish songs, as well as Sabbath prayer in Hebrew and Aramaic.
The music was recorded in Paris, Kyiv, Brussels and Montreal, with over 20 musicians, as well as Ukrainian and French choirs.
The album was released on December 13, 2023.
Release.
"Shttl" premiered October 16, 2022 at the London Film Festival, and won the Audience Award one week later at the Rome Film Festival. The American premiere was at the New York Jewish Film Festival on January 16, 2023.
The film was released in cinemas in Ukraine on October 26, 2023.
It opened in France on December 13, 2023, where it continued its theatrical run for fourteen consecutive weeks.
Reception.
Critical response.
Barry Levitt of "/Film" rated the film a 10 out of 10, calling it "a towering, single-take masterpiece of the lives we've lost."
Joshua Polanski of Boston Hassle gave the film a positive review and wrote, "It’s a fascinating film worth checking out, and I doubt there is another film with quite the same "chutzpah"."
International critics received the film with enthusiasm, calling "Shttl" "a hypnotic masterpiece from an exciting new voice."
References.
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