Directed by Joan Micklin Silver • 1975 • United States
Starring Steven Keats, Carol Kane, Dorrie Kavanaugh
Joan Micklin Silver’s remarkable feature debut is a vivid, lovingly detailed evocation of the late-nineteenth-century Jewish Lower East Side built around a luminous, Academy Award–nominated performance from Carol Kane as Gitl, a young woman from Eastern Europe who arrives in New York to join her husband Yankel (Steven Keats) who has already emigrated. While Yankel, who now goes by Jake, has quickly acclimated to life in America—and even begun an affair with a dancer—Gitl initially struggles to assimilate. As she attempts to find her place within an unfamiliar culture, Gitl must find a way to become a victor instead of a victim.
Up Next in Season 1
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Bernice Bobs Her Hair
Directed by Joan Micklin Silver • 1976 • United States
Starring Shelley Duvall, Bud Cort, Veronica CartwrightAdapted from the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald—a literary landmark that all but defined the mores of 1920s Jazz Age youth—this PBS-produced short film stars the wonderfully idiosync...
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A Fish in the Bathtub
Directed by Joan Micklin Silver • 1999 • United States
Starring Jerry Stiller, Anne Meara, Mark RuffaloLegendary comedy duo (and real-life husband and wife) Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara star as the constantly bickering couple at the center of this sprightly comedy from writer-director Joan Mick...
