One project informs another and in the case of director Cynthia Wade, a documentary short she embarked on nearly 10 years ago has been the creative inspiration for a narrative feature slated for release later this year, featuring a cast that includes Julianne Moore, Ellen Page, Steve Carell and Michael Shannon.
The short, Freeheld–directed, shot and produced by Wade–won the Best Short Subject Documentary Oscar in 2008, telling the story of Laurel Hester who’s diagnosed with terminal cancer. The dying policewoman wants to leave her pension benefits to her life partner, Stacie Andree, only to have that request denied. Hester fought to gain that right so that her same-sex partner could afford to keep their home in New Jersey.
Wade is a producer on the Peter Sollett-directed narrative feature based on that true story. Also titled Freeheld, the theatrical motion picture is slated for release in New York and L.A. on Oct. 2, before going nationwide on Oct. 16.
Sandwiched chronologically between the short subject documentary and the major motion picture it has spawned is too much to enumerate relative to Wade. Suffice it to say that during that span she garnered a second Oscar nomination, earned Sundance recognition, and successfully diversified into the advertising/branded content arena. On the latter front, she is handled by MRS. BOND (formerly Recommended Media), the production company headed by founder Stephen Dickstein and executive producer/partner Jeff Rohrer.
The second Short Subject Documentary Oscar nomination came in 2013 for Mondays at Racine, which introduced us to two sisters–Rachel and Cynthia–who run a beauty salon on Long Island. Every third Monday of the month, their salon, called Racine, provides free beauty and support services for women undergoing chemotherapy. The sisters, who lost their mother to breast cancer–are determined to give women who are losing their hair, eyebrows and eyelashes a sense of normalcy and dignity during a traumatic, uncertain time. As it delves into the lives of the sisters and the women who come into the salon, the documentary evolves into a poignant, moving look at womanhood, motherhood and marriage.
Wade also directed the docu short Born Sweet which earned Short Filmmaking Award-Honorable Mention distinction at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Born Sweet centers on a 15-year-old boy from a small rural village in Cambodia who’s been poisoned by arsenic-laced water. He has dreams for karaoke stardom.
In the ad sector, Wade’s directorial endeavors over the past couple of years include real people work for Pfizer exploring how those stricken with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) are coping with the respiratory disease; Dove commercials on underarm care for Ogilvy Chicago which introduce us to eight women from Thailand, another eight from Indonesia, and eight more from the Philippines; a “Keep Momming” campaign for Shire out of Digitas in Philadelphia, introducing us to moms and their daughters who have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); and a short documentary, Selfie, marking the 10-year anniversary of Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign. Selfie debuted at a Sundance event in Park City, Utah, last year to help further a Sundance Institute/Women In Film initiative for female directors.
Most recently, Wade directed Heart Felt, a feature-length documentary for pharmaceutical companies Sanofi and Regeneron out of agency Arnold Worldwide, NY, chronicling people’s struggles with high cholesterol. Produced by MRS. BOND, the creatively ambitious documentary spans five countries, nine cities, 19 real-people experiences, 35 shoot days and 173 hours of footage. Wade captured inspiring, honest, real people stories including such subjects as a blues singer in Kansas City, Mo., who sings about cholesterol and unites with her sister in a battle to prevent heart disease; a Tokyo businessman who attends a Buddhist ceremony and burns a Daruma doll with monks chanting as he sets his sights on lowering his high cholesterol; a seemingly healthy London resident–thin and with a good diet–who had dangerously high cholesterol and underwent heart surgery; and a NYC comedian, recently diagnosed with high cholesterol, who uses his health concerns as a source for stand-up comedy and shared laughter.
Wade captured so much material that also culled from it will be 27 mini-films with one scheduled to debut each week over the next seven or so months on the takedowncholesterol.com website.
Furthermore, Wade is currently in the midst of directing three feature-length documentaries–one being Mudflow which she and Sasha Friedlander (Where Heaven Meets Hell) are teaming to direct. Mudflow delves into the social and political impacts of an environmental disaster caused by allegedly shoddy land drilling in Indonesia. Mudflow has been awarded a $200,000 MacArthur Foundation grant and a $100,000 Ford Foundation grant. Additionally, Wade is directing solo a documentary about entrepreneurs whose startup businesses are helping to revitalize a long suffering economy in Detroit, as well as an Al Jazeera America-commissioned documentary about firearms violence and gun control.
SHOOT caught up with Wade who talked about her varied exploits, starting with Heart Felt.
SHOOT: Provide some backstory on Heart Felt. How did the global documentary come about?
Wade: Arnold Worldwide’s idea was to pitch a feature-length documentary to Sanofi/Regeneron, helping to educate viewers about high cholesterol and using real people to convey the significance of the problem and how it is has impacted their lives.
If we didn’t have enough creative freedom in casting, this project could have been deadly–a feature-length documentary about cholesterol doesn’t seem too inviting. But the real people we found made the difference; their stories were heartfelt and relatable.
The project was triple bid. My original treatment included Cornelia Poletto, a health-conscious chef whose story I thought was interesting. She wound up being in the documentary
I also included in that same treatment a Daruma doll festival in Tokyo. I knew Japan was one of the key markets the client and agency wanted to hit and I thought the festival would be a filmic way to do that. I envisioned a hardworking Tokyo businessman trying to keep his career going to take care of his family, striving to please his bosses and clients so much that he’s ignoring his high cholesterol symptoms. For the final documentary we found a businessman with a real people story that somewhat paralleled this.
The documentary also had various experts but we weren’t overrun by dry expert interviews. The final edit allowed for the people themselves to tell their own stories–with no narration. When you use real people to tell emotional stories, if done right, you can hit viewers on a deeper, more visceral level. Viewers can see themselves in these people.
I love these kind of projects. And working with MRS. BOND, we tried to push things visually. We did as much as we could with verite filming in these countries, using prime lenses, trying to make the filming as interesting as possible, all the time doing full justice to these people and their stories. I want to do more of this kind of work [in the advertising arena].
SHOOT: You have also diversified into the narrative feature world as producer on Freeheld which is based on your Oscar-winning documentary short of the same title. What has the process been like bringing that story to the mainstream big screen?
Wade: This December will be ten years since I started on that documentary short. Fast forward to today and we have had an historic Supreme Court decision on gay marriage. And in October the feature film based on Freeheld will be released.
This was years in the making, taking the screenwriter down to the real places and meeting the real people in New Jersey. Later doing the same with the director and lead producers. They were all very journalistic in their approach, right down to the smallest details. Julianne [Moore] spent time with Laurel Hester’s family, Ellen Page spent time with Stacie Andree, Laurel’s surviving partner. Julianne read all the transcripts of my interviews with Laurel. She asked me to send as much video footage as possible. She watched everything, all the interviews to get the accent right. She called me with incredibly astute, perceptive questions about relationships and how people felt at particular moments. Julianne embodied Laurel so profoundly on set, I had a couple of moments when she had her bald cap on [when Hester was undergoing cancer treatment] that shook me. It was like Laurel had come back to life. When Laurel’s sister came on set during the shooting of a hospital scene, she was in tears, saying ‘That’s my sister. It’s Laurel.” I wanted to hug Julianne because I feel like Laurel is back.
When we started all this, I was willing to let go, telling myself this [feature] will be an interpretation of the story. This turned out to be so much more, so true and respectful of the story. It is amazing and I’m so grateful that this film will bring this story to a much wider audience.
SHOOT: You’re in the midst of directing three feature-length documentaries. Update us on the status of these projects.
Wade: I recently went back to Indonesia for the nine-year anniversary of the explosion and toxic mudflow there. The people there still haven’t been paid for the damage done to them and their villages. The mud is still covering villages. For the nine-year anniversary, several hundred of them made an effigy of the billionaire believed to have caused the mudflow due to fracking. This four stories-high effigy was lifted up on a bamboo platform and carried through the streets.
At this point, our film is four years in the making. We have some great footage and we’re continuing to work on a rough cut and I plan to go back for the 10th anniversary in May 2016. I’m hoping that by the tenth anniversary, these people have been paid.
I also have a documentary about startups by entrepreneurs who are helping to restart the economy in Detroit. I’m directing this over the next year and the documentary is scheduled to come out in 2016.
And I’m two years into another documentary I’m directing. It’s a huge, complex, sprawling film about gun violence and gun control commissioned by Al Jazeera America. I plan to deliver that film in late 2016.
View more "Heart Felt" Behind The Scenes (BTS) here
"Heart Felt" Trailer – View online Here
Watch "Heart Felt" Full Fim here
Listen to "Heart Felt" Soundtrack selections here.
