Director Cynthia Wade is no stranger to Sundance but her latest film was showcased in a distinctly different manner than her prior work at the festival. This time around Wade's short documentary titled Selfie was not an official part of the Sundance lineup. Instead it debuted last week at a separate Sundance event to help further a Sundance Institute/Women In Film initiative for female directors while marking the 10-year anniversary of Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign.
Selfie takes us to a high school (in Berkshire County, Mass.) where teenage girls and their mothers are challenged to take honest selfies of themselves. The selfies showcase what each participant perceives as being her least desirable physical feature. Some of the girls acknowledge that they have insecurities about their appearance, which their mothers have passed on to them. The selfies turn out to be a learning experience where alleged imperfections prove to be what make each person special.
Wade got the Sundance/Dove gig by winning a competition which reached out to 60 female directors who had a proven track record at the festival. Wade’s credentials include Freeheld which won a Short Filmmaking Special Jury Prize at Sundance in 2007 (going on to win the Short Subject Documentary Oscar the following year), and Born Sweet, an Honorable Mention in Short Filmmaking at Sundance in 2010. The directors in the Sundance/Dove competition were asked to create a documentary short which would explore redefining beauty for the next generation–and how social media is redefining or expanding what constitutes beauty. Wade received a request for proposal from Sundance via email in mid-October. She called upon producer Sharon Liese for her mother-daughter relationship acumen as reflected in such work as High School Confidential, a WE series which Liese created. Wade has two daughters while Liese has one; the two filmmakers teamed on what proved to be the winning selfies-driven pitch. They shot the short the week before Thanksgiving, with some pick-ups lensed over Xmas vacation.
Wade, Liese and their team came up with their concept before “selfie” emerged as a heralded dictionary word of the year–and prior to James Franco’s editorial on selfies in The New York Times. “We were a little ahead of the curve,” related Wade. “When I was growing up, I wasn’t as inundated by media as today’s generation. We had TV but limited channels. Yet if I walked into a store and looked at the magazine rack, I’d see models on the cover of those magazines. Whatever those models looked like, that was the only definition of beauty I was exposed to as a thirteen year old. If I couldn’t achieve that look, I wasn’t attractive. The definition of beauty was not diverse. Now, though, our culture is in a new place in terms of how we talk about women and beauty–and social media is helping to fuel a shifting of gears. Today beauty is in the hands of the people as they photograph and share a diverse range of the female self image over social networks. We wanted to empower these teenagers to embrace their perceived imperfections and realize that there’s beauty in what makes them unique.”
Among the scenes that carry particular emotional resonance is the one in which the girls let down their guard and share what they felt insecure about during a photo workshop session. One girl talks about her refusal to put on makeup despite her mom encouraging her to do so in order to enhance her features. Selfie features some 20 girls and their mothers, with director Wade selecting several on which to base small narrative arcs, delving into certain teenagers’ feelings and the mother-daughter space. The selfies become a tool of empowerment, yielding self-realization and the shedding of insecurities–on the part of daughters as well as moms.
While adding another dimension to Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign, Selfie was produced as an independent film in which director Wade had the final cut. This film was made possible in part with support from the Sundance Institute/Women Filmmaker Initiative project. The short has struck a responsive chord with viewers, moving up to the #3 most watched YouTube video of the week just days after its debut, and garnering coverage on national outlets including the Today show and Good Morning America. Selfie was produced by Recommended Media, the production house which Wade joined last year for representation in spots and branded content. Via Recommended, she has directed other projects, including a healthcare campaign for Pfizer out of Draftfcb, New York.
Selfie debuted at an event hosted by the Sundance Institute and Women In Film Los Angeles, two groups which have created a mentorship program for women directors, bringing them together with established filmmakers and staging workshops to help female helmers gain access to film financing. Dove is a supporter of the Sundance Institute and Women In Film mentorship program.
The self-image theme is one that Wade has adroitly explored before, albeit in an entirely different context. She directed Mondays at Racine, a short which ironically didn’t make the Sundance cut but went on to earn a Short Subject Documentary Oscar nomination in 2013. Marking Wade's second career Oscar nomination, Mondays at Racine tells the story of two sisters who run a beauty salon on Long Island. Every third Monday of the month, the 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. The loss of hair and its impact on personal image evolved into a poignant, moving look at womanhood, motherhood and marriage.
