Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman: Song of Autumn

Folks, here's an interesting press release I thought I'd pass along. For those not familiar with Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman (me, for instance), she has been an important figure in the American Yiddish music scene. According to Wikipedia, "Schaechter-Gottesman’s songs have been performed by Theodore Bikel, Adrienne Cooper, Theresa Tova, Lucette van den Berg, Michael Alpert, Lorin Sklamberg, Sharon Jan Bernstein, Fabian Schnedler, Massel-Tov and others. A song written for her nephew, "Binyumele’s Bar Mitsve", was adapted by Adrienne Cooper for her daughter as "Sorele’s Bas Mitsve" and was recorded on the CD Mikveh ....Schaechter-Gottesman continues to serve as a resource for researchers of both Yiddish folk and art music. She has been recorded and interviewed numerous times and participated in such cultural events as KlezKamp, KlezKanada, Buffalo on the Roof, Ashkenaz, and Weimar KlezmerWochen...In 1998 Schaechter-Gottesman was inducted into the People's Hall of Fame at City Lore in New York; and in 2005 she received a National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellowship, one of the highest cultural honors given by a United States government agency"

Yiddish Film Project
Worlds within a World: Conversations with Yiddish Writers
Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman: Song of Autumn

A VELT MIT VELTELEKH: SHMUESN MIT YIDISHE SHRAYBERS
BEYLE SHEKHTER-GOTESMAN: HARBSTLID

The League for Yiddish is pleased to announce that the film Beyle
Schaechter-Gottesman: Song of Autumn (BEYLE SHEKHTER-GOTESMAN: Harbstlid), the second film in our series Worlds within a World: Conversations with Yiddish Writers (A velt mit veltelekh: shmuesn mit yidishe shraybers) is ready and available for viewing and purchase.

THE FILM
Beyle Schaechter Gottesman: Song of Autumn is an edited interview conducted with this remarkable Yiddish poet, songwriter, and singer by her son folklorist/journalist Itsik Gottesman and enhanced by photo stills and Schaechter-Gottesman's music. The film is 72 minutes long. The interview is entirely in Yiddish WITH VERY ACCURATE AND COMPLETE ENGLISH SUBTITLES. In it, BEYLE, whose name has become synonymous with modern Yiddish song and who has played a central role in revivng and inspiring interest in Yiddish song and poetry among a whole new generation of artists, discusses her life and creative path: her upbringing in the Yiddish cultural milieu of Tshernevits (then Rumania) as the daughter of a remarkable traditional folk singer and a passionate Yiddishist, the war years in Rumania, her development as a modern Yiddish poet and songwriter in New York, and her views on Yiddish literature and creativity. What emerges is a rich picture of the world of a woman who recited poetry to the great Yiddish fabulist Eliezer Shteynbarg as a child, was part of a vibrant Yiddish enclave in the Bronx, and is the only Yiddish poet ever to be awarded a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the nation's top honor for folk arts.

DIRECTOR
The film is directed and edited by Josh Waletzky, director and editor of Image before My Eyes and Partisans of Vilna, and editor of Emmy Award-winning "Itzhak Perlman: In the Fiddler's House." Among other awards, Josh is the recipient of the Silver Ducat at the Mannheim International Film Festival for Image and First Prize at the Anthropos International Film Festival for Partisans.

PURCHASE
Both films make the perfect program for a Yiddish circle, class, or eveny our local Jewish or documentary film festival. The film is available in VHS or DVD format. TO ORDER, SEND $30 PLUS $5 POSTAGE (IN THE US) OR YOUR CREDIT CARD INFORMATION to LEAGUE FOR YIDDISH 64 FULTON ST. SUITE 1101, NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10038. Postage for Canada – $6.00 for either VHS or DVD. International postage other than Canada – $5 for the DVD and $12 for the VHS. You may also order at our website www.leagueforyiddish.org with a credit card or paypal. For inquires, please contact us at info@leagueforyiddish.org or call 212 889-0380.