Five Little Gefiltes in Yiddishland: Film Screening and Stop-Motion Workshop

time! Following the screening, choose from two hands-on activities: Stop-Motion Workshop: Children will create their own gefilte fish and bring it to life through stop-motion animation as they set it loose on New York City. Best for ages 9-14. Led by Helene Berg and Isabella A Johanson, animators and co-directors of the film. Storytime Painting Workshop: Enjoy a storytime followed by a painting activity where participants will create their own colorful gefilte fish to take home. Best for ages 5-8. Led by Sarah Schulman, creative producer of the film. [/vccolumntext][/vccolumn][/vcrow][vcrow][vccolumn][vccolumntext css= ] About the Film Five curious gefiltes have the chutzpah to leave their jar and explore New York City, trailed by a loud OY VEY! from Mama Gefilte. She isn’t happy — but through their adventures, each sibling proves to be a true mentsh. Adapted from Dave Horowitz’s beloved picture book Five Little Gefiltes, the film is animated and co-directed by Helene Berg and Isabella A Johanson, scored by Swedish klezmer virtuoso Alexander Freudenthal, and translated into Yiddish by Michael Wex, author of Born to Kvetch. It screens in Yiddish with English subtitles — no Yiddish required. Gefiltlekh finf premiered at BUFF and opened the International Jewish Film Festival, both in Malmö, Sweden. The book behind it, Fem små gefiltes (Dos Nisele Farlag, 2025), is a 2026 Peter Pan Award nominee — Sweden’s foremost prize for children’s literature in translation. Dave Horowitz’s English original was a 2008 Sydney Taylor Notable Book. Publisher and creative producer Sarah Schulman reads the book aloud in English before the screening. Afterwards, co-directors Helene Berg and Isabella A Johanson lead a stop-motion workshop in which children build and customize their own gefilte fish, and animate it on an adventure through the city. Everything the group makes is screened together at the end, with music and sound effects added. Books for sale in English and Swedish; all materials provided. [/vccolumntext][/vccolumn][/vcrow][vcrow][vccolumn width= 1/3 ][vcsingleimage image= 161296 css= ][/vccolumn][vccolumn width= 2/3 ][vccolumntext css= ] Sarah Schulman Photo Credit: André Prtic Sarah Schulman is a publisher and cultural producer who makes new Jewish and Yiddish culture for contemporary audiences. She founded Dos Nisele, the Yiddish press behind Georg Riedel’s Yiddishland — a new canon of Yiddish songs created with one of Scandinavia’s most celebrated composers — and behind Fem små gefiltes and its animated Yiddish adaptation, Gefiltlekh finf, which she produced. She sits on the board of the Yiddish Society and helped build Jiddischklubben (The Yiddish Club), a weekly gathering where families come back to Yiddish through play. She received Sweden’s Minority Language Prize in 2025, and works between New York and Stockholm. [/vccolumntext][/vccolumn][/vcrow][vcrow][vccolumn width= 1/3 ][vcsingleimage image= 161293 css= ][/vccolumn][vccolumn width= 2/3 ][vccolumntext css= ] Helene Berg Photo Credit: Self-portrait Helene Berg is an artist and animator working in moving image, and co-director of Gefiltlekh finf. Her animated projections and visuals have been staged internationally, at Stockholm’s Stadsteatern, Dansens Hus and Fylkingen, at Örebro Länsteater, and at Dupont Underground in Washington, D.C. For more than fifteen years she has led animation workshops for museums, schools and arts organizations, from Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde in Stockholm to the National Art Museum in Minsk. She holds a degree in art history from Uppsala University, and lives and works in Stockholm. [/vccolumntext][/vccolumn][/vcrow][vcrow][vccolumn width= 1/3 ][vcsingleimage image= 161295 css= ][/vccolumn][vccolumn width= 2/3 ][vccolumntext css= ] Isabella A Johanson Photo Credit: Self-portrait Isabella A Johanson is a film director, screenwriter and producer, and co-director of Gefiltlekh finf, in which she also voices Mama Gefilte. She wrote and directed In Georg Riedel’s Yiddishland for Swedish national television, and has produced series for the public broadcasters SVT and UR, among them Sweden, the Crisis and Me. She taught film and television production at upper-secondary level for years, and now leads animation workshops for children — most recently Animations, Yiddish, supported by the Swedish Film Institute. She lives and works outside Stockholm. [/vccolumntext][/vccolumn][/vcrow][vcrow][vccolumn][vccolumntext css= ]This event is sponsored by the Consulate General of Sweden.[/vccolumntext][vcsingleimage image= 143133 css=.vccustom1789068465055{margin-top: 11px!important;} ][/vccolumn][/vcrow][vcrow][vccolumn][vccolumntext css= ]Presented in partnership with Dos Nisele.[/vccolumntext][vcsingleimage image= 161310 css= ][/vccolumn][/vcrow]