Norman Jewison Retrospective At Bell Lightbox

One of the most well known Canadian directors of the past 50 years, Norman Jewison, an Oscar winner for the classic IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (1967), is receiving a  retrospective at the Bell Lightbox, the Toronto Film Festival organization’s year-round multi-screen cinematheque. Since beginning his career in television in the 1950s, the director has moved between film styles and genres, making his directorial signature somewhat elusive. However, his cache of awards (including the Irving Thalberg Award, a Lifetime Achievement award from the Directors Guild, and twelve Academy Awards for films he has directed and produced) has made him not only one of Hollywood’s most consistently fine talents but also honed a reputation as a skilled director of actors. He has coaxed career-defining performances (and Academy Awards and other prizes) from such stars as Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger (IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT), Al Pacino (AND JUSTICE FOR ALL), Steve McQueen (THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR), Denzel Washington (A SOLDIER’S STORY) and Cher (MOONSTRUCK). Add to these his multi-Oscar nominated adaptation of the legendary Broadway musical FIDDLER ON THE ROOF and the Cold War satire THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING!, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING!, and you get an inkling of the astonishing breadth of his oeuvre. Though Jewison has spent the vast majority of his career in the United States, he has always seen himself as Canadian, and was indeed decorated a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation’s highest civilian honor, in 1992. He has also demonstrated his devotion to Canadian cinema with the co-founding of the Canadian Film Centre, a training ground for emerging Canadian film talents. For more information on the series, visit: http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiffbelllightbox/2011/201104270052809#filmnote

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