The Ashokan Center: The Ancient Law with Alicia Svigals and Donald Sosin

The Ancient Law (Das Alte Gesetz) a cine-concert: a screening of the foundational 1923 silent film, with a live original score by world-renowned klezmer violinist Alicia Svigals and celebrated pianist/composer and silent film music legend Donald Sosin. The Ancient Law is a landmark in Weimar cinema and an outstanding example of the creative contribution of Jewish filmmakers in 1920s Germany. It is the story of a rabbi’s son who leaves his shtetl home in Galicia and makes his way to Vienna, where an archduchess at the imperial court falls in love with him. The movie draws a complex portrait of the tension between tradition and modernity.