THIS ORDINARY THING - Emmy-Winning Filmmaker Nick Davis’s Timely Documentary

Notably, none of the people featured in the film thought of themselves as heroes. And yet the film, with immense contemporary resonance, causes each of us to ask ourselves “What would I have done?”

The film employs some of the world’s greatest actors, performing excerpts translated from the original transcripts. The cast, including Helen Mirren, F. Murray Abraham, Carrie Coon, Jeremy Irons, Ellen Burstyn, and Stephen Fry, have amassed five Oscars (and over twenty nominations), over sixty Emmy nominations, and over twenty-five Tony nominations in their

illustrious careers.

The music for the film is by Tony-Award winning Adam Guettel, composer of The Light in the Piazza, Floyd Collins, and numerous other stage and screen productions.

THIS ORDINARY THING- DIRECTOR STATEMENT

No film has ever changed me nearly the way this one has. To be honest, I never wanted to make it. I never wanted to make a Holocaust film. I never even wanted people to know I was Jewish.

But now all that has changed.

Here’s how it happened: one day in the Spring of 2022, a wonderful man I’d worked with in the past, Albert M. Tapper called me and said what all filmmakers dream of hearing: “Do you have any films that need funding?” I didn’t - but said yes, then quickly drew up a list of seven possible projects and went to lunch with him.

As we sat down and made small talk, before we could even get to my list, Al and I stumbled across a funny coincidence: we both knew about an organization called The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, that honored and supported non-Jewish people who had helped Jewish families during the Holocaust.

Al’s face lit up -- as a staunch defender of the Jewish faith, he wanted to make a film that would honor and thank those people who had helped Jews during World War 2.

As a non-practicing Jew in his mid-50s, who had grown up delighting in the fact that because of my surname, no one would ever know I was Jewish, I knew it was too late. Given the state of the world, could I really afford NOT to make a film that honored people who tried to point out the essential sameness of all humans?

By the end of the meal, the die was cast. In my research, I soon found a treasure trove of interviews that had been conducted with the people who would become the subjects of the film – who are often called ‘The Righteous’ or ‘The Righteous among Nations.’ I had heard of Oskar Schindler, of course, but I had been totally unaware that there were more than 20,000 people who had been honored at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.

These were all people who, working independently, at great risk to themselves and their families, saved thousands from almost certain death. The interviews I read were amazing and wildly varied – people from all walks of life, every part of Europe – these astonishing pockets of goodness in a sea of evil. And I realized what the film would be: celebrated actors reading from these remarkable transcripts, from people helping those who were "different" from them, with real archival footage from the time. I wanted to bring this all to life as best as I possibly could, telling the stories of these incredible people.

Of course, none of the subjects of the film thought of themselves as heroes. Years later, many of them were inscribed on 'The Avenue of the Righteous' in Yad Vashem in Israel, given awards, and had trees planted in their honor. One of them described his attitude:

"When I was at Yad Vashem, going up to plant my tree on the Avenue of the Righteous, I said to the director that I didn’t think I really deserved this. He told me that all the righteous say the same thing. 'But,' he asked, 'why didn’t everyone do this ordinary thing?'”

My hope is that the film is universal and deeply relatable - that audiences will see themselves in these stories, and ask: What would I have done? Would I risk everything for a stranger?

At a moment when so many forces seem intent on driving us apart, these stories remind us of something simple and profound: our shared humanity.

In the end, what does it even mean to be “different”?

THIS ORDINARY THING- FILMMAKER BIOGRAPHY

NICK DAVIS is a filmmaker and writer. His film YOU HAD TO BE THERE, a documentary about the 1972 Toronto production of Godspell that ignited the comedy revolution of the past fifty years, starring Martin Short, Gilda Radner, Eugene Levy, and Andrea Martin, recently premiered at TIFF 2025, where it won the second runner up for the Audience Award.

His previous films include ONCE UPON A TIME IN QUEENS (ESPN’s 30 for 30 series) and an Emmy Award for his Executive Producing turn for The Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox for Netflix.

His book about his grandfather and great-uncle, COMPETING WITH IDIOTS: Herman and Joe Mankiewicz, a Dual Portrait, was shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times book prize as biography of the year in 2021.

His previous film, TED WILLIAMS: ‘THE GREATEST HITTER WHO EVER LIVED,” aired in 2018 on PBS’ American Masters series. Among his other films are BLOOD, SWEAT + GEARS, a documentary about a cycling team devoted to cleaning up its scandal-ridden sport, JACK: THE LAST KENNEDY FILM, an Emmy-Award winning portrait of John F. Kennedy, and the acclaimed dark comedy 1999, starring Jennifer Garner, Dan Futterman, Amanda Peet, Buck Henry, Timothy Olyphant, and Stephen Wright.

In 2001, he formed Nick Davis Productions, which has produced over 80 hours of non-fiction and documentary programming for television for outlets such as A&E, Bravo, History Channel, Sundance Channel, and more.

He and Jane Mendelsohn recently formed Series of Dreams, a production company whose first films are the Toronto Godspell documentary YOU HAD TO BE THERE and timely documentary THIS ORDINARY THING, featuring the voices of Helen Mirren, Jeremy Irons, Stephen Fry, Carrie Coon, F. Murray Abraham, Bill Camp, and Ellen Burstyn, among others.

Emmy-winning filmmaker Nick Davis's moving documentary THIS ORDINARY THING will have its South East US Premiere at Miami Jewish Film Festival. The film will have Nationwide (US/Canada) VOD Release on Apple/iTunes, Amazon, and all major platforms on March 31, 2026.

Miami Jewish Film Festival 2026 Screenings:

Wednesday, January 28th, 2026 - 8:00 p.m. Location: O Cinema South Beach, 1130 Washington Avenue, Suite#: 200, Miami Beach, FL 33139.

Website: https://miamijewishfilmfestival.org/films/2026/this-ordinary-thing

To view THIS ORDINARY THING-TRAILER, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qcgS6xWyA4