Sholem Aleichem [videorecording] : laughing in the darkness / a film by Joseph Dorman.

New York : Riverside Films : New Video, 2013.

1 videodisc (93 min.) : sd., col., b&w ; 4 3/4 in.

A portrait of writer Sholem Aleichem, whose stories about Tevye the milkman became the basis of the Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof. Aleichem (1859-1916) was a rebellious wordsmith who created a new genre of literature and used his remarkable humor to encapsulate the realities of the Eastern European Jewish world in the late nineteenth century. Using a rich collection of archival footage, the film recreates a time in czarist Russia when Jews were second-class citizens and frequent scapegoats in times of social and political unrest.

Laughing in the darkness

Images / Video & Film

English

October 31, 2013

Editor, Aaron Kuhn, Kenneth Levis, Amanda Zinoman ; director of photography, Edward Marritz ; music, John Zorn ; written, produced and directed by Joseph Dorman.

With commentaries from Bella Kaufman (Aleichem's 100-year-old granddaughter), Aaron Lansky of the Yiddish Book Center, and Professor Ruth Wisse of Harvard University. Narrator, Alan Rosenberg ; with the voices of Peter Riegert, Rachel Dratch, Jason Kravits, Daniel Lerman.

DVD, full screen (1.33:1) presentation ; Dolby Digital stereo; NTSC.

NNVG284351