Synopsis
Norman Jewison's Fiddler on the Roof, the film Pauline Kael (The New Yorker) called “the most powerful movie musical ever made,” will mark its 50th anniversary on Nov. 21, 2021. In an interview conducted for the documentary, Topol, who plays Tevye, estimates that one billion people world-wide have seen Jewison's Fiddler on the Roof.
Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Daniel Raim, the director behind the critically acclaimed Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story and TCM’s ground-breaking documentary Image Makers: The Adventures of America’s Pioneer Cinematographers, celebrates the power and the glory of this movie milestone with Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen.
Fiddler’s Journey captures the humor and drama of producer-director Norman Jewison, a Canadian Gentile, struggling to recreate the lost world of Eastern European Jewry while telling a universal story about the importance of family, the fragility of tradition, and the systematic oppression and expulsion of a minority population.
Statement by director Daniel Raim
During my final year at the AFI, I was inspired to make a documentary about my professor, Robert Boyle, the production designer of Fiddler on the Roof. I first spoke with Boyle and Jewison about their epic collaboration on Fiddler for my Oscar-nominated profile of Boyle, The Man on Lincoln's Nose (2000). Bob and Norman became both friends and mentors to me. I was blessed to learn directly from two masters about the art of cinema.
In July 2009, I saw Topol perform in Fiddler on the Roof on stage in Los Angeles. This was Topol's farewell after 45 years of playing Tevye. When he first appeared on stage, a diverse audience gave him a thunderous standing ovation. I remember thinking, "What's their connection to the story of Tevye? Isn't Fiddler a story about Jewish issues?" Their fervor broadened my understanding and inspired me to dive deeper into Fiddler lore. Within weeks I flew to Tel-Aviv to interview Topol at his home.
I continued exploring Fiddler with the movie's cast and crew, including interviews in 2017 on 4K cameras with lyricist Sheldon Harnick in NYC, and Norman Jewison at his Malibu home. I intended to capture Jewison, the artist and the man. After our interview, he signed his autobiography, and his inscription moved me deeply: "For Daniel, Keep shooting those wonderful films! Thanks for a wonderful interview on my favorite film, Fiddler!"
COMPLETED INTERVIEWS
NORMAN JEWISON | PRODUCER-DIRECTOR
NORMAN JEWISON | PRODUCER-DIRECTOR
NORMAN JEWISON | PRODUCER-DIRECTOR
A Methodist, he always wanted to be a Jew, though he grew up in an anti-Semitic pocket of Toronto during the Great Depression. As a hip veteran of live TV in Toronto and New York and cutting-edge films like In the Heat of the Night and The Thomas Crown Affair, Jewison faces his greatest creative gambles in Fiddler on the Roof. Can he pull
A Methodist, he always wanted to be a Jew, though he grew up in an anti-Semitic pocket of Toronto during the Great Depression. As a hip veteran of live TV in Toronto and New York and cutting-edge films like In the Heat of the Night and The Thomas Crown Affair, Jewison faces his greatest creative gambles in Fiddler on the Roof. Can he pull off the squarest film of his career? Can he make it believable to Jews and relevant to people of all faiths and backgrounds?
TOPOL | ACTOR
NORMAN JEWISON | PRODUCER-DIRECTOR
NORMAN JEWISON | PRODUCER-DIRECTOR
A native Israeli, he was born to Eastern European Jews who sought refuge in Palestine during the Fifth Aliyah. He creates a Tevye to honor the voice and image of his father, who foresaw the annihilation of his culture and helped build a country that a Jew could call his own. In performance and in interviews, Topol clarifies how Sholem Al
A native Israeli, he was born to Eastern European Jews who sought refuge in Palestine during the Fifth Aliyah. He creates a Tevye to honor the voice and image of his father, who foresaw the annihilation of his culture and helped build a country that a Jew could call his own. In performance and in interviews, Topol clarifies how Sholem Aleichem interweaves comedy and tragedy--and how the musical honors Aleichem's legacy within the contours of a sweeping, irresistible entertainment.
SHELDON HARNICK | LYRICIST
NORMAN JEWISON | PRODUCER-DIRECTOR
SHELDON HARNICK | LYRICIST
This lanky, curly-haired, twinkling-eyed lyricist radiates exuberance and an almost visceral nostalgia as describes the gestation of the stage show. He takes us through the creative process that led to the perfection of “If I Were a Rich Man,” “Tradition,” and “Sunrise, Sunset.” He sings “Sunrise, Sunset” from his own book of lyrics. And
This lanky, curly-haired, twinkling-eyed lyricist radiates exuberance and an almost visceral nostalgia as describes the gestation of the stage show. He takes us through the creative process that led to the perfection of “If I Were a Rich Man,” “Tradition,” and “Sunrise, Sunset.” He sings “Sunrise, Sunset” from his own book of lyrics. And he paints vibrant portraits of collaborators Jerome Robbins, Joe Stein, and Jerry Bock.
COMPLETED INTERVIEWS
LILLIAN MICHELSON | FILM RESEARCHER
WALTER MIRISCH | EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
LILLIAN MICHELSON | FILM RESEARCHER
The most prolific, inventive, and rigorous film researcher in Hollywood history. In Fiddler's Journey Michelson uses all the tools she developed to create the contemporary environments of The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and Rosemary’s Baby (1968) to make audiences believe in the historical lost world of Fiddler on the Roof (1971).
ROBERT BOYLE | PRODUCTION DESIGNER
WALTER MIRISCH | EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
LILLIAN MICHELSON | FILM RESEARCHER
Production designer extraordinaire for Alfred Hitchcock and Richard Brooks, this energetic, hard-drinking Irishman throws himself into the culture of his most ambitious project yet. He draws on the wisdom of his wife Bess, a veteran of New York’s Yiddish theater (who also inspires composer John Williams). Decades after Nazis destroyed the
Production designer extraordinaire for Alfred Hitchcock and Richard Brooks, this energetic, hard-drinking Irishman throws himself into the culture of his most ambitious project yet. He draws on the wisdom of his wife Bess, a veteran of New York’s Yiddish theater (who also inspires composer John Williams). Decades after Nazis destroyed the wooden synagogues of Eastern Europe, Boyle creates one from scratch, with astonishing detail. It proves to be a valuable visual resource for historians and future Fiddler productions, and a transporting work of art in its own right.
WALTER MIRISCH | EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
WALTER MIRISCH | EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
WALTER MIRISCH | EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Walter Mirisch is an American film producer. He is president and executive head of production of The Mirisch Corporation, an independent film production company, which he formed in 1957 with his brothers, Marvin and Harold. The Mirisch Company produced 68 films for UA, including Fiddler on the Roof, and three pictures that won the Academy
Walter Mirisch is an American film producer. He is president and executive head of production of The Mirisch Corporation, an independent film production company, which he formed in 1957 with his brothers, Marvin and Harold. The Mirisch Company produced 68 films for UA, including Fiddler on the Roof, and three pictures that won the Academy Award for Best Picture – The Apartment (1960), West Side Story (1961) and In the Heat of the Night (1967), which also won four other Oscars.
FILMMAKERS
Daniel Raim | Writer-Director-Producer
Daniel Raim | Writer-Director-Producer
Daniel Raim | Writer-Director-Producer
Academy Award-Nominated filmmaker Daniel Raim attended the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. Raim is known for his documentaries about overlooked artists of Hollywood’s Golden Age, including The Man on Lincoln’s Nose, nominated for the 2001 Academy Award® for Best Documentary Short Subject and Something'sGonna Live (2009, LA Times C
Academy Award-Nominated filmmaker Daniel Raim attended the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. Raim is known for his documentaries about overlooked artists of Hollywood’s Golden Age, including The Man on Lincoln’s Nose, nominated for the 2001 Academy Award® for Best Documentary Short Subject and Something'sGonna Live (2009, LA Times Critic's Pick). Raim's 2015 doc Harold and Lillian A Hollywood Love Story, is currently streaming on NETFLIX. It premiered as an Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for The Golden Eye (L’Œil d’or, le prix du documentaire - Cannes).
(Email: danielraim@me.com)
Sasha Berman | Producer
Daniel Raim | Writer-Director-Producer
Daniel Raim | Writer-Director-Producer
Sasha Berman has been handling national publicity for theatrical and virtual releases of foreign language, documentary and independent films for over 20 years. Prior to that time she was a distributor and an exhibitor of indie films. She has publicized over 250 films and was an Associate Producer on the documentary film Short Cut To Nirva
Sasha Berman has been handling national publicity for theatrical and virtual releases of foreign language, documentary and independent films for over 20 years. Prior to that time she was a distributor and an exhibitor of indie films. She has publicized over 250 films and was an Associate Producer on the documentary film Short Cut To Nirvana: Kumbh Mela. Sasha also currently consults on theatrical film distribution for independent films in the US and is the personal publicist for Emmy-winning director Maria Schrader (“Unorthodox” on Netflix).
(Email: sashaberman@me.com)
Michael Sragow | Writer-Coproducer
Daniel Raim | Writer-Director-Producer
Michael Sragow | Writer-Coproducer
Michael Sragow wrote, researched, and coproduced Image Makers: The Adventures of America’s Pioneer Cinematographers. He created, produced, and hosted series for The Criterion Channel, including conversations with Megan Abbott, Julie Taymor, Philip Kaufman, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. An award-winning author and critic, he was the first regu
Michael Sragow wrote, researched, and coproduced Image Makers: The Adventures of America’s Pioneer Cinematographers. He created, produced, and hosted series for The Criterion Channel, including conversations with Megan Abbott, Julie Taymor, Philip Kaufman, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. An award-winning author and critic, he was the first regular movie critic for Rolling Stone and his work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and The New York Times. His critical biography, Victor Fleming: An American Movie Master, won the 2008 Marfield Prize (National Award for Arts Writing).
(Email: msragow@me.com)
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