Films About Russian Jews

Jewish Luck revolves around Menakhem Mendl (one of Sholem Aleichem's characters), a daydreaming entrepreneur who specializes in doomed strike-it-rich schemes. Despite Jewish oppression in Tsarist Russia, Mendl continues to pursue his dreams and his continued persistence transforms him from schlemiel to hero.

A Jewish writer in Czarist Russia is forced to flee when the government comes after him for his "objectionable" writings. He emigrates to the US, where he settles in New York City's Lower East Side. A friend tells him that his wife, who he was forced to leave behind in Russia, has died. He later marries the daughter of a temple cantor, who will have nothing to do with him. As if that weren't enough, he finds that his "ex" wife is actually still alive and living in Russia. Complications ensue.

The original, non-musical film version of the book which inspired "Fiddler on the Roof".

In Czarist Russia, around 1911, a Russian-Jewish handyman, Yakov Bok (Sir Alan Bates), is wrongly imprisoned for a most unlikely crime.

In 1896, a Russian Jewish woman immigrates to New York City's Lower East Side to reunite with her Americanized husband, but she has difficulty assimilating.

Lev Syrkin was a successful artist in Moscow who dreamed of pursuing artistic and personal freedom in Israel. He abandoned his reputable status in Russia and moved to Israel with his entire family, only to be welcomed by indifference toward the mosaic art he practiced. Director Daniel Syrkin takes a journey through Israel, lovingly tracing his tenacious immigrant father's struggles, accomplishments and hopes as an artist. Along the way, his father's biggest dream becomes Daniel's own: the creation of a huge mosaic portraying the dove of peace in the heart of Jerusalem. As this dream is revived, father and son encounter apathy and disappointment, but with a twist of optimism, which only fuels their dedication to public art.

Thirty years ago Bolshoi Orchestra conductor Andreï Filipov was fired for hiring Jewish musicians. Now a lowly janitor, an opportunity arises to gather his old musicians to go and pose as the official Bolshoi orchestra in Paris.

In the 1990's a million former USSR Jews arrived in Israel. The immigrants were despised by the local population who feared their 'invasion'. While many embraced the Israeli lifestyle, others chose to live in self-made Russian ghettos. These ghettos were a fertile ground for the creation of self-hating Jewish skinheads. 'White Panther' is the story of Alex, a young Russian immigrant who joins a skinheads' gang, led by his older brother. An unexpected meeting with David, a religious Moroccan Jew, gives Alex a chance to pursue his longtime dream of becoming a boxer like his father. Alex finds himself torn between his two father figures - his violent older brother and his new Jewish trainer, only to find out the truth about those he so admires.

1905. A Jewish Shtetl. Shimek and Buzya are two 10 year olds. Of course, she is a princess and he is aprince. They live in the same yard, in neighboring palaces. What Buzya really means to him, Shimek begins to understand only years later when, far away from home, he receives the news that Buzya is about to be married off.

A mini-documentary series that captures the personal historical drama of the immigration of Jews after collapse of the USSR regime to Israel.

Refusenik chronicles the thirty-year international movement to free Soviet Jews. The first retrospective film about the movement, it has been called a "seminal" work on the subject. Told through the eyes of activists on both sides of the Iron Curtain - many whom survived punishment in Soviet Gulag labor camps - the film is a tapestry of first person accounts of heroism, sacrifice, and ultimately, liberation.

In a small town in Russia in the 1880s, two young but poor lovers are helped by a wise old bookseller.

A cinematic collage about people caught between two worlds. An empathetic look at a physical journey and the melodramas of a journey that is spiritual. Nikita Pavlov emigrated from Russia to Israel because he always wanted to experience life in another country. Street protests, political activism, and his daughters first steps are captured without any chronological context, separated only by Pavlovs thoughts and ideas. A cinematic diary that attempts to piece together a hypothetical picture of the filmmakers future.

You came from Russia to Israel. Are you ready to show everybody that you are a winner and fight for your right to live there?

Raya and Victor have built a shared career as the Soviet Union's most beloved film voice actors. As the USSR collapses, the Jewish couple must immigrate to Israel and reinvent themselves to find new jobs.