New Yiddish movie 'Shttl' is a cinematic triumph that rebuilds a lost Jewish world: review

New Yiddish Movie "Shttl" Rebuilds a Lost Jewish World

Ady Walter stands out as one of the boldest Jewish directors in recent years. His film Shttl is a remarkable and daring achievement. Shot in 2021 in Ukraine amid the height of COVID-19 restrictions and under the looming threat of a Russian invasion, the film was created entirely in Yiddish, in black and white, and crafted to appear as a single continuous take.

To realize this vision, Walter constructed a full-scale replica of a shtetl from scratch, complete with homes, a synagogue, and winding dirt roads. For the lead role, he cast Moshe Lobel, who had never starred in a feature film before.

"The story of the film was a Jewish ‘Apocalypse Now,’” Walter said. “This was a crazy adventure in wild conditions. We even shot in swamps with mosquitoes in Ukraine. With Moshe, I never met him before he came, but we had conversations over the phone where I could trust he was right for it."

Walter was clear from the start that Shttl had to be told in Yiddish, despite limiting its commercial audience. He prioritized authenticity over reach:

“I don’t come from a Yiddish-speaking family. But not doing it in Yiddish wasn’t an option. I wanted to make a film where people spoke Yiddish because it was their language at the time.”

The result is a cinematic tribute that revives and preserves a vanished Jewish cultural world with striking realism and passion.

Author’s summary: Ady Walter's Shttl is a daring black-and-white film shot in a life-sized shtetl set, fully in Yiddish, capturing an authentic Jewish world amid historic threats and challenges.

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Unpacked Unpacked — 2025-11-01

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