The Cantor's Son

About The Film

Featuring Moishe Oysher’s screen debut, THE CANTOR’S SON is the semiautobiographical musical about a wayward Jewish boy who leaves his Polish shtetl to seek success in America. After years of menial work in a New York nightclub, Saul is discovered and becomes a well-known singer. Torn between Old World tradition and New World expression, he returns home to Eastern Europe to join his parents and childhood sweetheart, amidst new choices and challenges. The most expensive Yiddish production of the era, THE CANTOR’S SON was shot near the Poconos and presents rare glimpses of the 1930s Lower East Side. On the occasion of the film’s 75th Anniversary, the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival is proud to present a newly-restored 35mm print of this classic immigrant tale that critic J. Hoberman dubbed the “anti-Jazz Singer.” Restored by the National Center for Jewish Film at Brandeis University.