KlezCalendar

Despite the taboo surrounding homosexuality, the topic was too intriguing to be left entirely out of the Yiddish motion picture. An exploration of lesbian & gay subtext in Yiddish cinema during its heyday, from the 1920's to the outbreak of World War II, reveals distinctly Jewish concerns of the time intertwined with a striking array of allusions to this highly-charged subject. Lectures will be accompanied by clips from selected films and period home movies, plus related archival surprises. Ms. Sicular has published widely and lectured throughout North America and Europe on Yiddish and Soviet cinema, and was particularly inspired by the work of the late film scholar Vito Russo, author and presenter of the original Celluloid Closet.

The Village Temple, led by Rabbi Chava Koster and Cantor Kathy Barr, has served the Reform Jewish community in Greenwich Village and Lower Manhattan for almost 60 years, with a commitment to social justice. This event is part of the Rose and Adolph Alexander lecture, concert and film series, supported for the eighth consecutive year by Edward Krugman, in memory of his late wife Paula's parents.

Filmmaker/historian Eve Sicular has lectured throughout North America and Europe on Yiddish and Soviet cinema. A former curator of Film & Photography Archives at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, she has also worked for the Department of Film at New York's Museum of Modern Art on the series "Bridge of Light: Yiddish Film Between Two Worlds". She has published numerous articles and anthology essays on the subject of queer subtext in Yiddish cinema, as well as lecturing on this topic at film festivals, scholarly conferences, media centers and universities across North America and Europe.

In addition to her work as a film historian, Ms Sicular is drummer/leader of both Metropolitan Klezmer and the Isle of Klezbos sextet, and has produced their four award-winning CDs on Rhythm Media Records. A fifth audio CD with DVD tracks is currently in production. The bands have appeared in broadcasts on CNN "Worldbeat," PBS "In The Life," and the German network ARD's "Rhythms of New York," as well as on radio stations worldwide, in soundtracks and soundscapes from Showtime's "The L Word" to Off-Broadway to Covent Garden's Royal Ballet, and at concert halls, nightclubs, college campuses and music festivals internationally since 1994.