In September 1911, at the Minsk Electric Theatre, a Jewish troupe led by A.M. Smolarsky accompanied a short projection of silent motion pictures with the Yiddish song "A Brivele der Mamen" (Letter to Mother). This was one of the first documented instances of Yiddish cinema. At the very same time, short silent films with Yiddish intertitles were being directed for Jews in the Pale of Settlement and Congress Poland. The most notable producer was the Warsaw-based Mordka Towbin, whose studio Siła released four short features adapted from the plays of Jacob Gordin within the year: "Der Vilder Foter" ("Cruel Father"), with Zina Goldstein and Ester Rachel Kaminska, directed by Marek Arnstein; "der Metoiref" ("The Madman"); "Got, mentsh un tayvl" ("God, Man and Satan"); and "Mirele Efros". Another series of shorts based on plays were directed by a Warsaw studio Kosmofilm, founded by Shmuel Ginzberg and Henryk Finkelstein. Both companies employed the prominent actors of the city's Yiddish theater scene. In total, including several ones meted out in Russia, some 20 silent court métrage pictures with Yiddish titles were made before the end of World War I.