Events

The Dybbuk (Poland, 1937)

On the occasion of the 120th anniversary of the founding of the Jewish Museum in Prague, we invite you to the film series “Cinema Yiddishland,” which presents Yiddish culture as a living space and an inexhaustible source of artistic inspiration. The program connects pre-war films that evoke the long-vanished worlds of Eastern European Jewish communities with contemporary works for which Yiddish serves above all as a creative language.

The legendary film The Dybbuk, based on the play “Between Two Worlds” by S. An-sky tells the story of a restless spirit that possesses the body of a young woman after a failed ritual. This visionary film, marked by a tragic ending, was a true aesthetic revolution in its time, using mysticism as a means of exploring religious belief. The supernatural here functions as a force that stands in opposition to social reality and historical circumstances.
The film will be introduced by Hebraist Karolina Kašeová.
Director: Michał Waszyński
Language: Yiddish, with English and Czech subtitles, 125 min.

Online ticket purchase via GoOut or on the Ponrepo Cinema website.

Full admission – 120 CZK
Reduced admission – 100 CZK
Ponrepo Cinema members – 60 CZK

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The Cultural Legacy of Jewish Communities in Present-Day Turkey: Izmir

The Jewish presence in Izmir—one of the oldest cities in the Mediterranean, formerly known as Smyrna—dates back to antiquity. The local Jewish community experienced an unprecedented period of prosperity, particularly during the seventeenth century, when Izmir became a major cultural, religious, and commercial center for Sephardic Jews. During the same period, the city also attracted followers of Sabbatai Zevi, the controversial founder of the messianic movement. 
 
An evening with Nesim Bencoya, Director of the Izmir Jewish Heritage Project, hosted by Michaela Sidenberg, Chief Curator of the Jewish Museum in Prague.
In association with the Instituto Cervantes de Praga.
Language: English.

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Ladino—More than a Language: On the Culture of Sephardic Jews with Nesim Bencoya, Director of the Izmir Jewish Heritage Project

Ladino—a form of fifteenth-century Castilian Spanish enriched with elements from Hebrew, Arabic, Greek and Turkish, as well as from Balkan and Romance languages—is the ancient language of Sephardic Jews. Despite a dramatic decline in the number of native speakers, its legacy remains alive. This is because Ladino is not just a language, but a powerful cultural code expressed through music, literature, clothing, culinary arts, life-cycle traditions, domestic culture, the organization of social life, and more.
 
With the aid of musical and visual examples, Nesim Bencoya will be sharing his personal and professional experiences and explaining the role that the language and its associated culture play in contemporary efforts to preserve Jewish cultural heritage in Izmir, Turkey.
 
Event hosted by Michaela Sidenberg, Chief Curator of the Jewish Museum in Prague.
In association with Instituto Cervantes, with simultaneous interpretation from English into Czech.

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