93Queen
A film by Paula Eiselt
93QUEEN chronicles the creation of the first all-female Hasidic ambulance corps in New York City.
US | 2018 | 90 minutes | Color | DVD | English | Order No. W181228 |
SYNOPSIS
93QUEEN is the inspirational story of Rachel “Ruchie” Freier, a no-nonsense Hasidic lawyer and mother of six who is determined to shake up the boy’s club in her community by creating Ezras Nashim, the first all-female volunteer ambulance corps in New York City.
In the Hasidic enclave of Borough Park, Brooklyn, EMS corps have long been the province of men. Though the neighborhood is home to the largest volunteer ambulance corps in the world, that organization has steadfastly banned women from its ranks. Now Ruchie and a group of tenacious Hasidic women are risking their reputations and the futures of their children to provide dignified emergency medical care to the Hasidic women and girls of Borough Park. Through it all, we see them grappling to balance their faith with their nascent feminism, even as they are confronted by the patriarchal attitudes that so dominate Hasidic society.
With unprecedented insider access, 93QUEEN offers a unique portrayal of a group of empowered religious women who are taking matters into their own hands to change their own community from within.
PRESS
"Forget Supergirl and Wonder Woman. To see a real female superhero in action, check out Paula Eiselt's documentary."
"Heartening. Inspiring."
"93Queen expertly takes you into trials and tribulations, victories and reversals right out of a narrative film."
"Director Paula Eiselt takes a measured, respectful approach, showing the highs and the many lows of being a modern trailblazer; particularly in such a secular, traditional environment."
"Heartening, unexpected...both surprising and deeply satisfying. [Eiselt] brings an instinctive yet clear-eyed sympathy for these women’s remarkable story."
"Offers a rare glimpse into a closely guarded area."
"Watching 'Ruchie' and her team of women take initiative and defy the patriarchal rules of their community is inspiring."
"It’s a fascinating, intimate look at a world largely shrouded from outsiders but especially it’s about a remarkable woman - Freier, 53, a mother of six, who would become the first Hasidic woman to hold public office in the United States."
"This documentary about the creation of the first all-female Hasidic EMT corps is fascinating and inspirational."
"Fascinating. Recommended."
SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS
- San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
- Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival
ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)
Paula Eiselt
Paula Eiselt is an independent filmmaker and graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts with a double major in Film Production and Cinema Studies. Her work has been supported by the Independent Television Service (ITVS); the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program with support from Open Society Foundations and Just Films | Ford Foundation; the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA); Fork Films; the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund, with support from the Oath Foundation; the International Documentary Association Pare Lorentz Documentary Fund; Picture Motion; the Hartley Film Foundation; the Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP); and Women Make Movies (WMM).
93QUEEN is Eiselt’s feature directorial debut. 93QUEEN won the top inaugural first look Pitch Fund prize at the 2017 Hot Docs Forum and had its World Premiere at Hot Docs in 2018 followed by a theatrical release and POV broadcast with support by the NYC Mayor's office Made in NY program.
In 2017, Eiselt had the great privilege of being selected as a Creative Producing Fellow for the 2017 Sundance Creative Producing Summit and was also a 2016 IFP Documentary Lab fellow. Most recently, Eiselt was invited to join the prestigious POV/Wyncote Filmmaker Fellows cohort at the PBS Annual Meeting in May 2018. In addition to her feature docs, Eiselt is developing a New York Times Op-Doc on Jewish identity in collaboration with the team behind the “In Conversation on Race” series. Previously, Eiselt served as Director of Programming at The Edit Center where she launched and designed their Documentary Filmmaking program.
Additional credits include researcher for The Undocumented (Independent Lens); and AP for Bronx Princess (POV). Additional directing credits include short films Priscilla (NY New Filmmaker Series at Anthology Film Archive); My Mom the Dead Head (Cannes Film Festival's Short Film Corner) and The Fitting Room (NY Jewish Student Short Film Festival).
Eiselt currently lives in NJ with her husband, two curious sons and a sassy daughter - although she will always remain a New Yorker.
RELATED LINKS
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Indiewire
Q&A: Paula Eiselt Reveals How She Gained the Trust of Brooklyn’s Hasidic Community in ’93Queen’
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Official Website
Check out the 93QUEEN website
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93QUEEN on Facebook
Follow the film on Facebook
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Ezras Nashim Official Site
Emergency Medical Care for Women by Certified Volunteer Female EMTS
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Filmmaker Magazine
Paula Eiselt on Birthing Her Hasidic EMS Documentary 93QUEEN at the IFP Documentary Lab
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The Hollywood Reporter
Paula Eiselt's documentary chronicles the creation of the first all-female Hasidic EMT corps
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The Guardian
The incredible story of the all-female Hasidic emergency service
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New York Times
93Queen Follows Female Jewish EMS Workers in Brooklyn
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Los Angeles Times
‘93Queen’ offers an insider's view of women's lives in a self-contained Hasidic community
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PROFILED
Profiled knits the stories of mothers of Black and Latino youth murdered by the NYPD into a powerful indictment of racial profiling and police brutality, and places them within a historical context of the roots of racism in the U.S. Some of the victims—Eric Garner, Michael Brown—are now familiar the world over. Others, like Shantel Davis and Kimani Gray, are remembered mostly by family and friends in their New York neighborhoods.
Ranging from the routine harassment of minority students in an affluent Brooklyn neighborhood to the killings and protests in Staten Island and Ferguson, Missouri, PROFILED bears witness to the racist violence that remains an everyday reality for Black and Latino people in this country. Moving interviews with victims’ family members are juxtaposed with sharply etched analyses by evolutionary biologist, Joseph L.Graves, Jr, (The Race Myth) and civil rights lawyer, Chauniqua D. Young, (Center for Constitutional Rights, Stop and Frisk lawsuit). PROFILED gives us a window on one of the burning issues of our time.
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Ovarian Psycos
Riding at night through streets deemed dangerous in Eastside Los Angeles, the Ovarian Psycos use their bicycles to confront the violence in their lives. At the helm of the crew is founder Xela de la X, a single mother and poet M.C. dedicated to recruiting an unapologetic, misfit crew of women of color. The film intimately chronicles Xela as she struggles to strike a balance between her activism and nine year old daughter Yoli; street artist Andi who is estranged from her family and journeys to become a leader within the crew; and bright eyed recruit Evie, who despite poverty, and the concerns of her protective Salvadoran mother, discovers a newfound confidence.
The film Ovarian Psycos rides along with the Ova’s, exploring the impact of the group’s activism, born of feminist ideals, Indigenous understanding and an urban/hood mentality, on neighborhood women and communities as they confront injustice, racism, and violence, and take back their streets one ride at a time.
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Four Wives – One Man
From Nahid Persson, the filmmaker of the award-winning Prostitution Behind the Veil, comes an intimate portrait of a polygamist family in a rural Iranian village. Persson reveals the intricacies of the relationships between the four wives, their husband, their astoundingly free-spoken mother-in-law and their numerous children. Sometimes humorous and often heartbreaking, this film follows the daily lives of the wives whose situation has turned them into both bitter rivals and co-conspirators against their abusive husband.
Persson’s camera unobtrusively and beautifully captures the range of the family’s interactions – from peaceful, pastoral scenes of a family picnic, to the temporary chaos caused by a broken faucet in the kitchen, to a furtive, whispered conversation between two wives about the latest beating. The women’s work – making bread, weaving carpets, milking and herding the sheep – provide the background to their frank conversations. Avoiding sensationalism and sentimentality, this film provides unique insights into the practice of polygamy and its effect on the women involved.
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