Stummfilmvertonung: The Man Without A World

THE MAN WITHOUT A WORLD is attributed to the legendary (and fictional) Soviet director Yevgeny Antinov from the 1920s. But the movie is anything but old. In fact, Antinov himself is an invention of contemporary filmmaker Eleanor Antin. A moving, comic melodrama set in a typical shtetl (village) in Poland. The Jews' struggle against poverty and racial hatred is complicated by their own division into hostile political factions of religious orthodoxy, assimilationists, socialists, Zionists, anarchists and survivors. Against this backdrop, two unhappy lovers - the merchant's daughter Rukheleh and the impoverished Yiddish poet Zevi - seek their happiness. But many obstacles stand between them, including Rukheleh's disapproving parents, Zevi's love affair with a seductive gypsy dancer (played by Antin) and the suffering of Zevi's younger sister Sooreleh, who has been traumatized by a sexual assault in her youth and is now subjected to exorcism rituals by local religious zealots.

The film has been newly restored by Milestone Media and features an original score by Donald Sosin, the master of silent film piano, and violinist Alicia Svigals, the world's leading exponent of klezmer violin (klezmer is the traditional music of Eastern European, Yiddish-speaking Jews). The duo is currently touring and performing live with the film in "cinema concerts" around the world.