A riveting portrait of the world’s greatest Yiddish writer whose stories became the basis of the Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof, SHOLEM ALEICHEM: LAUGHING IN THE DARKNESS explores the life of the rebellious genius who created an entirely new literature. Plumbing the depths of a Jewish world locked in crisis and on the cusp of profound change, Sholem Aleichem captured that world with brilliant humor. He was not just a witness to the creation of a new modern Jewish identity, but one of the very men who forged it..

Releasing on March 12 from Docurama Films, a label of Cinedigm, LAUGHING IN THE DARKNESS brings to life Sholem Aleichem’s world and his timeless stories through rarely seen photographs, archive footage, voice talent, including Peter Riegert (The Sopranos), Rachel Dratch (Saturday Night Live) and Jason Kravits (The Adjustment Bureau). Also featured in the film are interviews with leading experts such as Dan Miron, Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at Columbia University; Ruth Wisse, Professor of Yiddish Literature and Comparative Literature at Harvard University; David Roskies of the Jewish Theological Seminary; author and Yiddish translator Hillel Halkin; Aaron Lansky, the founder of the National Yiddish Book Center; Sheldon Harnick, lyricist of Fiddler on the Roof and Bel Kauffmann, Sholem Aleichem’s own granddaughter..

The film explores the history of Jewish culture in Eastern Europe through Sholem Aleichem’s works. Excerpts of his stories profiled in the film include: If I Were a Rothschild, Glossary of Stepmother’s Curses, The Town of the Little People, The Adventures of Menakhem Mendl, Eternal Life, Letter to America, Tevye the Dairyman, Tales of a Thousand and One Nights, and Motl, The Cantor’s Son..

Directed by Joseph Dorman, SHOLEM ALEICHEM: LAUGHING IN THE DARKNESS was released in theaters in July 2011 to rave reviews and was a New York Times and Washington Post Critics’ Pick. The film received support from the Righteous Persons’ Foundation, the Foundation for Jewish Culture’s Lynn and Jules Kroll Fund for Documentary Film, the Herman G. Kaiser Foundation and Daniel and Joanna S. Rose. Its currently 100% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes..

“I wanted to use Sholem Aleichem to explore an entire world and felt I could because he managed to embody that world in his work and his life. In fact for many, the very phrase ‘the world of Sholem Aleichem’ has become shorthand for the nineteenth century world of the shtetl,” said Dorman.

VIDEO:
Widescreen

AUDIO:
English 2.0 Dolby Digital Surround Sound
Subtitles English 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Making the film

On Sholem Aleichem