Set in 1941, just 24 hours before Nazi Germany’s Operation Barbarossa, SHTTL presents a visually dynamic portrait of a Yiddish village on the Polish-Ukrainian border. When a young filmmaker (Moshe Lobel) returns from Kyiv to marry the Rabbi’s daughter, his arrival disrupts the delicate balance of the town. The film captures the vitality, politics, and romance of everyday life in a traditional Shtetl, all under the shadow of imminent danger—a resonance heightened by today’s ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Filmed in contemporary Ukraine using a single, unflinching shot, SHTTL reconstructs a vanished world. The set, originally intended as a museum, has since been destroyed amidst the current political crisis.