UK, 1988, 104 minutes, 35mm, Directed by Paul Morrison, English/Welsh/Yiddish with English subtitles

This Best Foreign film Oscar nominee is a tragic love story about religion-crossed lovers. It's set against the backdrop of the 1911 Tredegar riots, where Jewish businesses in Wales were attacked and looted.

An orthodox Jewish packman (i.e., door-to-door fabric seller), Solomon (Ioan Gruffudd), falls in love with a Welsh chapel girl, Gaenor (Nia Roberts), and conceals his religious identity. Both their families and their cultures thwart their love.

In addition to the stirring love story in the foreground, the film explores the mutual suspicion and prejudice in the small, mixed community. Passions run high, whether the positive ones of the lovers or their negative opposition. The background is bleak and cold, a world of the miners' grit and the chill of a Wales winter, emblematic of the harsh orthodoxy that denies the lovers.