In 1934, the Soviet Union established the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in the far east of the country near the border with China. Initially, the experiment attracted Jewish migrants from all over the world, but today only a tiny percentage of the population identifies as Jewish.

Belgian director Guy-Marc Hinant traveled to the capital, Birobidzhan, to document the remaining traces of Jewish culture left in the region. He interviewed residents who had moved there as children and visited Jewish cultural and religious sites including classrooms, the Yiddish library, the newspaper publisher (which continues to publish four pages per issue in Yiddish), and the two synagogues. The documentary is interwoven with Yiddish song and poetry along with views of the surrounding landscape, forming a meditative portrait of a place and its complex history.

Guy Marc Hinant is a filmmaker and music producer who founded Sub Rosa, a Brussels-based label for avant-garde, electronic, world, and noise music.

This screening is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Soviet Jewish Life: Bill Aron and Yevgeniy Fiks.

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