In Vilnius in May–June 2011, a cycle of American films was shown at the Tolerance Centre of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum. The event organised in collaboration with the America Center showed various American films on the Jewish subject.

During the first event that coincided with the beginning of the America Culture Week (9–16 May 2011) four comedies with the Three Stooges: Disorder in the Court (1936; 17 min), Jaunikis be nuotakos (1947; 17 min.), m. Dainuokime šešių kelnių dainą (1948, 17 min.) and Pagieža rūmuose (1949, 16 min.). The Three Stooges were popular American comedians in the first half of the 20th century, who became famous for their short comedies. The actors who started acting in 1925 became popular in 1934 after they signed a contract with Columbia Pictures. The trio consisted of brothers Howard (Horwitz): Moe, Curly and Shemp, and  Larry Fi (Louis Feinberg). The brothers were born in Lithuanian American Jewish family, Larry Fin’s parents came from Russia. The Three Stooges are still popular more than fifty years later from their first comedy act.

Gentleman’s Agreement was screened on the second evening. It was directed by Elia Kazan in 1947 after the bestseller by the same title by Laura Z. Hobson. The American writer, Philip Green was commissioned by a magazine to write a series of articles about anti-Semitism in America. In order to find out whether it existed in America, he pretended to be a Jew. Very soon the writer saw that that his liberal office did not employ Jews, and his secretary, who wanted to get a job, had to change her name. All of a sudden, invitations to some parties to Philip stopped coming; he learned that some hotels did not accept him; on the street he heard racist comments. Even his personal relationship was in a crisis.

The fourth film was Vilnius Partisans: The Unrevealed History of the Jews’ Resistance during the Second World War, 1986, directed by Josh Waletzky. The film deals with the true history of the fight of Vilnius Jewish partisans during the Second World War. In order to restore unknown pages of history, the director artistically combined the story of over forty Holocaust survivors, authentic songs and shots from archives. “The Vilnius” raises the issues that faced young Jews who organised a group of partisans in the Vilnius Ghetto that fought against the units of the Third Reich army. It is a moving story about the important events that took place in the 20th century, the events that recreate authentic history commemorating the people who resisted invincible forces.

The fifth film screened was Everything is Illuminated shot by  Liev Schreiber in 2005 that tells the story of an American who travelled across post-Soviet Ukraine looking for the traces left by his ancestors. The film adapted from the novel of the same name by J. S. Foer, is both funny and dramatic. The film is in English.

The musical comedy The Producers made in 2005 brought the cycle to the close (director S. Stroman, actors: N. Lane, U. Thurman, M. Broderick). The musical staged in 2001 and shown to full houses across the world is based on the 1968 satirical comedy of the same name written and directed  by Mel Brooks. It is the story of a theatre producer and financier who hatched the plot to ruin Broadway during the screening of an absurd musical entitled “Hitler’s Spring”.

The films of various genres (comedy, drama, musical, feature and documentary) revealed a rich diversity of American films on the Jewish subject that deals with the comic and dramatic aspects of human history.