ONLINEFiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen

**Registration link coming soon!**

Sponsored by Susan and Mark Sendrow, Judy and Rick Cooper, Susan Sacks, and Nancy and Larry Moffitt

The fall of 2021 marked the 50th anniversary of the release of Fiddler on the Roof, director Norman Jewison’s 1971 film adaptation of the Tony-winning 1964 stage musical. Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen captures the humor and drama of director Norman Jewison’s quest to recreate the lost world of Jewish life in Tsarist Russia and re-envision the beloved stage hit as a wide-screen epic. Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen offers a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the movie, which was nominated for eight Oscars and won three.

It includes interesting details about the making of the film: for instance, how the film was shot through nylon stockings stretched over the lens to create its earth-toned palette; how the look of its shtetl setting, in the fictional village of Anatevka, based on the stories of writer Sholem Aleichem, was inspired by Roman Vishniac’s acclaimed photos of pre-World War II Jewish life in Eastern Europe; and how the film’s version of Tsarist Russia was all re-created in the town of Lekenik, in the former Yugoslavia.

The heart of the documentary’s message has to do with the film’s universality and Fiddler’s appeal that extends beyond a preconceived niche or demographic. The themes of Fiddler on the Roof are simple: family, tradition and its opposite, change. Also: how life can sometimes feel as precarious as a musician trying to scratch out a violin tune without breaking his neck. Those are notions that, as this winning little film reminiscence makes clear, are common to us all.

Please note that this is a free event.  However, donations in support of our many arts and culture activities are always welcome.