A Bridge of Books

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A Bridge of Books (2001)

Directed by Sam Ball

Documentary · 13m

In 1939, Yiddish was the spoken language of three-quarters of the world's Jews. But when leading Jewish scholars convened in 1980, they estimated that only 70,000 Yiddish books remained in the world. This engaging, often funny documentary film chronicles the adventures of an enterprising 23-year-old named Aaron Lansky, who rallied together an international network of volunteers and set out to rescue the world's Yiddish books. Twenty years later, the National Yiddish Book Center has collected 1.5 million Yiddish books and helped save a rich diverse, and surprisingly modern literature from oblivion. With rare archival images, and a lyrical portrayal of the National Yiddish Book Center's warehouse and cultural complex, A Bridge Of Books celebrates a pursuit that has become a powerful vehicle for the transmission of history, culture and identity across several generations.

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Crew

Director
Sam Ball
Editor
Gary Weimberg
Producer
Sam Ball

Details

Release date
2001-01-07
Runtime
13m
Genres
Documentary
Original language
EN
Countries
United States of America
Production
Citizen Film