It’s a rainy Wednesday afternoon, and the sounds of Toronto’s torrential downpour blend with live instrumentals from various music scores that accompanied films made by one of Hollywood’s most famed Canadian directors, the late Norman Jewison.
These notes and melodies fill the Canadian Film Centre (CFC), a space Jewison founded as a launching point for new generations of Canadian filmmakers.
Under large umbrellas, staff at the centre escort assorted film lovers, family and friends of the late director into the room, where they grab a glass of celebratory bubbly and gather to view the Toronto-born filmmaker’s latest accolade: a commemorative stamp issued by Canada Post.
“As Canadian as fill in the blank, we’ve done that since this country was born,” comedian Rick Mercer, the event’s MC and a friend of Jewison, told the room.
“As Canadian as maple syrup, as Canadian as a prairie sunset, and now we have as Canadian as Norman Jewison on a stamp — which may be the winning entry.”
Jewison began his directorial journey in television at the CBC in 1951 before directing his first feature film, 40 Pounds of Trouble, released in 1962. Through the years, he received several Oscar nominations and made movies that spanned a range of genres and subject matters — tackling social justice issues and shining a light on marginalized communities.
One of those movies, 1967’s In the Heat of the Night, garnered five Oscars, including for best picture, while Fiddler on the Roof, from 1971, and 1987’s Moonstruck each won three Academy Awards.
At the Oscars in 1999, Jewison was given the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for his body of work, which included The Cincinnati Kid, Jesus Christ Superstar, And Justice for All and The Hurricane. He died earlier this year at the age of 97.
Norman Jewison, the celebrated Canadian director behind films including In the Heat of the Night, Fiddler on the Roof and Moonstruck, has died at 97.
Canadian director David Cronenberg, sporting a hat that displayed Jewison’s initials, was among those attending the stamp unveiling. He’s set to receive the 2024 Norman Jewison Career Achievement Award at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.
“We were two different kinds of directors. And yet none of that seemed to matter to Norman, who was genuinely, passionately enthusiastic and supportive of me and my work,” Cronenberg told the room.
“When saying goodbye, he would always say ‘Stay strong,’ because he knew how much strength you needed to do what we did, even though we were doing very different kinds of things.”
‘He was a class act,’ Mercer says
The new stamp features a photograph of Jewison front and centre, surrounded by red movie theatre seats. It was shot in the CFC theatre in 2007.
“This is the House that Norman Jewison built … because he wanted to give back,” Mercer told CBC News. “He was a class act … and he believed in young people.”
In an interview, Maxine Bailey, executive director of the CFC, said Jewison “was an icon, not only creatively, but his immense vision about paying it forward and launching the Canadian Film Centre in 1988. He was a brilliant human being.”
“He saw the future of Canadians telling their own stories,” she said.
In a news release, Canada Post says Jewison selected the image on the stamp and was “closely involved” in its creation. “One of his fondest memories was being sworn in by the postmaster as a teenager, so he could work in the post office of his father’s general store,” the release says.
Jewison is the latest film industry icon from Canada recognized by the country’s postal service, joining Donald Sutherland, Monique Mercure, Mary Pickford, Christopher Plummer, Mike Myers and Denys Arcand.
“This is his story told in the way that he wanted it to be told,” Canada Post CEO Doug Ettinger told CBC News. “He was beyond thrilled. He was so excited.”
“A little part of the CFC is in the stamp with Norman. So I think it’s the perfect ending,” Bailey said.
The new stamp, printed by Lowe-Martin, is available for purchase at postal outlets across Canada.
