A filmmaker returns from Kyiv to his rural village to marry the love of his life. He is expected to marry the rabbi’s daughter, which disrupts the balance of the whole town. In one unflinching shot, this film presents a day in the life of a Jewish village before it disappears. SHTTL is the story of the inhabitants of a Yiddish Ukrainian village at the border of Poland, 24 hours before the Nazi invasion, known as Operation Barbarossa. Today, there are no such villages in existence; the production fully reconstructed a traditional shtetl outside of Kyiv, which is planned to be turned into a museum.
WHY WE LIKE THIS FILM: Cinematically extraordinary. This Ukrainian film is entirely in Yiddish and mostly in black and white. The movie is delivered as if it is a single, continuous shot telling a compelling story that unfolds over the course of a single day—a clash between traditional Shtetl life and the unavoidable forces of the outside world. Winner of the Best Feature Film at the Berlin Jewish Film Festival 2023 and the Audience Award at the Rome Film Festival 2023.