The Jewish Heritage Museum of Monmouth County presents its Third Annual Yiddish Film Festival, on the following dates: Sunday, January 12, 2020 at 2 PM (inclement weather date: Sunday, January 19, 2020 at 2 PM) and Sunday, February 9, 2020 at 2 PM (inclement weather date: Wednesday, February 12, 2020 at 2 PM). Admission is $10 members (per film), or $12 non-members (per film).

Sunday, January 12, 2020: 2 PM (inclement weather date – Sunday, January 19 at 2 PM), Overture to Glory (Der Vilner Balebesl). This 1940 American film, in black and white with Eng-lish subtitles, was directed by Max Noseck. The cantor of the Vilna Synagogue, played by the great real-life cantor Moishe Oysher, leaves behind his prayers to perform in the Warsaw Opera. He struggles to balance the appeal of his newfound fame and notoriety with feelings of guilt and responsibility toward his family and community. Featuring perhaps the most convincing scenes of synagogue life in any fiction film, Overture to Glory begins during the morning service of Rosh Hashanah and ends at Kol Nidre, making the story a sort of redemptive journey during the days of awe.

Sunday, February 9, 2020: 2 PM (inclement weather date: Sunday, February 12, 2020 at 2 PM.) The 1937 American film Green Fields (Grine Filder) is a 95 minute long black and white film with new English subtitles. Ulmer's soulful, open-air adaptation of Peretz Hirshbein's classic play heralded the Golden Age of Yiddish cinema. When an ascetic young scholar ventures into the countryside, searching for the city of "true Jews," he learns some unexpected lessons from the Jewish peasants who take him in as a tutor for their children. This 1937 American comedy features child actor Herschel Bernardi, later to be an adult star on Broadway, films, and television.

Funding has been made possible in part by a general operating support grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission, a Division of the Department of State, through grant funds administered by the Monmouth County Historical Commission.

For more information or to make a paid reservation (non-refundable), call the Museum at 732-252-6990, or visit www.jhmomc.org. Maximum capacity is 100, so paid reservations are recommended.