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Freeheld Breaks Free - Director Cynthia Wade Gets an Oscar Nomination
Expanded Edition of 1-30-08 Windy City Times Interview
by Richard Knight, Jr.
Expanded Edition of 1-30-08 Windy City Times Interview
by Richard Knight, Jr.
Freeheld documentary director Cynthia Wade and a still of Laurel Hester and Stacie Andree, the subjects of her riveting
documentary short feature, now nominated for an Oscar
documentary short feature, now nominated for an Oscar
One of the big highlights of this year’s Oscar ceremony (should it take place) for gay audiences won’t just be the red carpet dish,
Beyonce singing every nominated song (should that happen), gay Oscar scribe perennial Bruce Vilanch whipping up great material for
host Jon Stewart (a given), or whose going to take the major awards. It will be a category that usually calls for a bathroom or
cigarette break: Best Documentary Short Subject. That’s because Freeheld a short film by director Cynthia Wade is nominated.
Two days after the nominations were announced Windy City Times caught up with Wade who had just returned home to Brooklyn,
New York from a whirlwind trip to Sundance to discuss her beautifully made film, the nomination, and more. Highlights:
WINDY CITY TIMES (WCT): Freeheld is the little film that could. I’m so thrilled about the nomination. For our readers who are not
familiar with the movie, can you please give them a brief overview?
CYNTHIA WADE (CW): Sure. Freeheld follows the nail biting, end of life struggle of Lt. Laurel Hester who was a police detective in
New Jersey. She had terminal cancer and months if not weeks to live and she was struggling, racing against the clock to leave her
police pension to her female life partner, Stacie Andree. She was told, “No” by her elected officials, the freeholders because they
were not husband and wife and it turned into a landmark battle in New Jersey that was really watched all over the world.
WCT: The film picks up where Laurel is in the end stages and battling and it’s so heartbreaking how she has to go back in front of
these guys and again defend this loving relationship and the whole crux of the matter is that Stacie will lose the house if Laurel can’t
designate Stacie her beneficiary, correct?
CW: Yes. Without Laurel’s police pension Stacie, an auto mechanic, was poised to lose the ranch house that they bought and
renovated together. They were a couple that had been together for 5 ½ years; they were registered domestic partners; they were
life partners. I am a heterosexually married mother of two – it would have been an automatic option for me with my husband or vice
versa. It was just stunning to me that this was happening just a stone’s throw from New York City where I live and work in late 2005,
early 2006. I sort of felt like I’d entered a time warp and we were in Kansas or something in the 1950s.
WCT: How did you find them?
CW: I read an article in a newspaper. I was definitely looking for my next film and my films tend to be about controversial social
issues and they tend to have strong female characters at the center; at the heart of the film. I went down to a meeting where Laurel
yet again was going to ask her elected officials, “Please, let me take the money that I’ve earned and give it to the person that I
love most in the world” and she was blatantly denied and I had a camera and was filming – it was sort of a test shoot because I
wasn’t sure if it was a film I wanted to pursue – well, during the course of that meeting I realized, “This is it – I have to make this
film and I have to follow this story and spend as much time as I can with Laurel.” So I went back home to New York where I live and
went upstairs to our apartment to see my husband and that that point we had just had a second child so we had a four month old at
home and a five year-old at home and my husband had just gotten a brand new job in which he needed to be there a lot and sort of
prove himself in new circumstances. But I looked at him and I said, “I have to go to New Jersey and I have to go make this film
and you need to help me because this story has to be told and I think I’m the person that needs to tell it. I’m going to have to be
there” and he just sort of looked at me and kind of gulped and said, “Okay, if this is this important let’s do this as a family.” So
very quickly I went back down – and it was in chunks – I wasn’t there continuously – but over the course of ten weeks I was living with
Laurel and Stacie on and off and I was going back home.
WCT: That’s right, you lived with them.
CW: Yes, I lived in their guest room because I really feel the only way to tell a documentary is really from the inside out and it was
a political battle but really at the heart of it, it was a love story. So my husband kind of juggled everything in New York and I very
quickly fell into Laurel and Stacie’s life.
WCT: Well, it’s a very powerful film and has been lauded everywhere it’s been seen.
And then this nomination comes – did you have an idea that you were going to get it?
CW: Well, you have to jump through a bunch of hoops in order to qualify it for Oscar consideration so it was the goal from the
beginning because it was something that I discussed with Laurel. I said to her, “I think if we keep this a short film” – partially
because I knew we weren’t going to have a lot of time with her quite frankly. Normally, documentaries take three to five years to
make and in this case we were going to lose her very quickly. So I knew that the footage would be limited and that dictated a
shorter length and I said, “I will do everything I can to get this out there. My feeling about this is we should make it a short film and
try to compete in as many festivals as possible in the short category and let me see if I can qualify this for Oscar consideration and
see if we can get the attention of the Academy Awards.” I said that to her back in early ’06 – two years ago and that was so exciting
to her because she didn’t want her struggle to be in vain. She wanted her personal story to make a very tangible difference to the
thousands of same sex, if not millions of same sex couples that live across this country and in this world.
WCT: I would say billions but…(laughs)
CW: You could be right. Let’s say billions of same sex couples… and one of my thoughts was, “What will the world be like when I’m
done with the film?” I realized that we’d be in the beginning of a national election year. I said to her, “If we could use the story and
the film as a way to garner attention for the issues of discrimination in an election year that could potentially be very powerful and
really become a tool.” She loved that idea so all along we’ve been screening at festivals and trying to raise awareness and having
panel discussions in many places – from Chicago to Salt Lake City, we’ve gone to Kansas City. Unexpected places in some cases
and the Oscar nomination just helps raise the awareness in an election so hopefully we can get a lot of people talking about this –
and not just the LGBT community because I really believe as a heterosexually married woman that this is my problem, too. This is
my responsibility, too.
WCT: That’s great to hear.
CW: I don’t want to live in a nation where some couples are granted some rights and other couples are not granted those rights. I
want to live in a nation where ALL couples have the same rights.
WCT: Here, here.
CW: It’s my responsibility, too. So, that was my goal – to really use it as a tool and a agent of change so the Oscar nomination is
amazing and it’s great and if they have a ceremony I get to wear a dress and all of that—
WCT: Yes – what are you wearing?
CW: I don’t know.
WCT: All the ladies and all the gay men are going to want to know, “What are you going to wear? Who’s your designer, darling?”
(CW laughs) Listen, let me give you some numbers.
CW: Believe me, I will be getting the opinion of many gay men because they will tell the truth. Yes, I promise. But ultimately this
really needs to be about the issue; about Laurel’s legacy.
WCT: This is a Diane Sawyer/Barbara Walters/Oprah question – where were you when you heard the news? Were you in bed? Were
you with the kids, waking them up for school?
CW: No I was actually at Sundance because we realized that if we got the nomination I would be in the middle of all of the media
and it would make a much bigger difference to be there as opposed to in Brooklyn, New York where I live (laughs). So I went there
and I actually paid somebody in LA to get up at an ungodly hour and to go to the Academy Awards office at 5:30 in the morning to
hear the announcements – because they announce everything there at that time. That was 6:30 my time – Utah time – and she
called me at 6:45 so I was prepared for the call but she didn’t say it right away. I mean, she was like, “How are you doing?” and I
was, “Uhhh, I’m fine. How are you?” Like, it was so drawn out.
WCT: (laughing) “I’m going to kill you if you don’t tell me right now!”
CW: “Tell me, tell me!” And it really could have gone either way and then I said, “I’m fine, I’m having I think a good day” and she
said, “Well, your day’s about to get much better.”
WCT: Schwew!
CW: Yeah!!! So that’s great, it’s awesome.
WCT: Now can people see it? I know it’s coming out on DVD at some point soon?
CW: Yes. There’s a trailer on our website, www.freeheld.com and I’m very proud of the trailer – it’s a good, sound trailer – just to
sort of tantalize people and you can sign up for an email when the DVD becomes available. I am in final negotiations now with a
major television broadcast outlet. I can’t say who it is yet but I believe we’re going to be finalizing a contract and they will be
broadcasting this film nationally in June – Pride month – just a couple of months before the national elections.
WCT: Great, great.
CW: And then there will be repeat screenings throughout the summer to garner more interest toward the elections and then, I think,
by the summer, certainly by the end of the summer we will release a DVD for people which is something I’m really excited about
because we will have many extras on the DVD. There were lots of great things that I filmed that I couldn’t put in there because I
had to compete under 40 minutes – and the film’s 38 minutes – as a short. So, they’re going to be all these deleted scenes and
extra interviews with Laurel and Stacie and behind the scenes stuff so it will be this expanded DVD in the summer which I’m really
personally excited about.
WCT: Have you spoken to Stacie? This is a wonderful legacy for Laurel. What has she had to say about this?
CW: Stacie and I spoke very early on Tuesday morning after the Oscar nomination was announced. She was really happy and
thrilled and said, “This is what Laurel wanted and I’m just so happy.” She said that the night before the nominations – because she
was aware that it was coming down the pike – she said she kind of had a body chill and then in her mind she thought, “Wow, this is
it. We’re going to get nominated.” So she was probably as excited as I was and really happy, mostly for Laurel’s sake because it
was something that Laurel really wanted.
WCT: Well I have to say that this is the first time in the history – you know this is the gay man’s national holiday, the Oscars – this
is the first time in 40 years of watching that I can’t wait to see the Best Documentary Short Subject award come up (laughs).
CW: Oh, that’s really funny (laughs). Okay, well, here’s the thing – I’m going to do my best with every gay man I know to be
dressed properly with the right jewelry, the right hair and everything but I’m just a simple documentary filmmaker from Brooklyn so
be kind, be kind, okay!
WCT: We’ll be kind and thank you so much for this gift to the world. It’s a wonderful piece of filmmaking and congratulations on
the nomination and we’ll hope to see you in the winner’s circle.
CW: Okay, thank you so much.
Beyonce singing every nominated song (should that happen), gay Oscar scribe perennial Bruce Vilanch whipping up great material for
host Jon Stewart (a given), or whose going to take the major awards. It will be a category that usually calls for a bathroom or
cigarette break: Best Documentary Short Subject. That’s because Freeheld a short film by director Cynthia Wade is nominated.
Two days after the nominations were announced Windy City Times caught up with Wade who had just returned home to Brooklyn,
New York from a whirlwind trip to Sundance to discuss her beautifully made film, the nomination, and more. Highlights:
WINDY CITY TIMES (WCT): Freeheld is the little film that could. I’m so thrilled about the nomination. For our readers who are not
familiar with the movie, can you please give them a brief overview?
CYNTHIA WADE (CW): Sure. Freeheld follows the nail biting, end of life struggle of Lt. Laurel Hester who was a police detective in
New Jersey. She had terminal cancer and months if not weeks to live and she was struggling, racing against the clock to leave her
police pension to her female life partner, Stacie Andree. She was told, “No” by her elected officials, the freeholders because they
were not husband and wife and it turned into a landmark battle in New Jersey that was really watched all over the world.
WCT: The film picks up where Laurel is in the end stages and battling and it’s so heartbreaking how she has to go back in front of
these guys and again defend this loving relationship and the whole crux of the matter is that Stacie will lose the house if Laurel can’t
designate Stacie her beneficiary, correct?
CW: Yes. Without Laurel’s police pension Stacie, an auto mechanic, was poised to lose the ranch house that they bought and
renovated together. They were a couple that had been together for 5 ½ years; they were registered domestic partners; they were
life partners. I am a heterosexually married mother of two – it would have been an automatic option for me with my husband or vice
versa. It was just stunning to me that this was happening just a stone’s throw from New York City where I live and work in late 2005,
early 2006. I sort of felt like I’d entered a time warp and we were in Kansas or something in the 1950s.
WCT: How did you find them?
CW: I read an article in a newspaper. I was definitely looking for my next film and my films tend to be about controversial social
issues and they tend to have strong female characters at the center; at the heart of the film. I went down to a meeting where Laurel
yet again was going to ask her elected officials, “Please, let me take the money that I’ve earned and give it to the person that I
love most in the world” and she was blatantly denied and I had a camera and was filming – it was sort of a test shoot because I
wasn’t sure if it was a film I wanted to pursue – well, during the course of that meeting I realized, “This is it – I have to make this
film and I have to follow this story and spend as much time as I can with Laurel.” So I went back home to New York where I live and
went upstairs to our apartment to see my husband and that that point we had just had a second child so we had a four month old at
home and a five year-old at home and my husband had just gotten a brand new job in which he needed to be there a lot and sort of
prove himself in new circumstances. But I looked at him and I said, “I have to go to New Jersey and I have to go make this film
and you need to help me because this story has to be told and I think I’m the person that needs to tell it. I’m going to have to be
there” and he just sort of looked at me and kind of gulped and said, “Okay, if this is this important let’s do this as a family.” So
very quickly I went back down – and it was in chunks – I wasn’t there continuously – but over the course of ten weeks I was living with
Laurel and Stacie on and off and I was going back home.
WCT: That’s right, you lived with them.
CW: Yes, I lived in their guest room because I really feel the only way to tell a documentary is really from the inside out and it was
a political battle but really at the heart of it, it was a love story. So my husband kind of juggled everything in New York and I very
quickly fell into Laurel and Stacie’s life.
WCT: Well, it’s a very powerful film and has been lauded everywhere it’s been seen.
And then this nomination comes – did you have an idea that you were going to get it?
CW: Well, you have to jump through a bunch of hoops in order to qualify it for Oscar consideration so it was the goal from the
beginning because it was something that I discussed with Laurel. I said to her, “I think if we keep this a short film” – partially
because I knew we weren’t going to have a lot of time with her quite frankly. Normally, documentaries take three to five years to
make and in this case we were going to lose her very quickly. So I knew that the footage would be limited and that dictated a
shorter length and I said, “I will do everything I can to get this out there. My feeling about this is we should make it a short film and
try to compete in as many festivals as possible in the short category and let me see if I can qualify this for Oscar consideration and
see if we can get the attention of the Academy Awards.” I said that to her back in early ’06 – two years ago and that was so exciting
to her because she didn’t want her struggle to be in vain. She wanted her personal story to make a very tangible difference to the
thousands of same sex, if not millions of same sex couples that live across this country and in this world.
WCT: I would say billions but…(laughs)
CW: You could be right. Let’s say billions of same sex couples… and one of my thoughts was, “What will the world be like when I’m
done with the film?” I realized that we’d be in the beginning of a national election year. I said to her, “If we could use the story and
the film as a way to garner attention for the issues of discrimination in an election year that could potentially be very powerful and
really become a tool.” She loved that idea so all along we’ve been screening at festivals and trying to raise awareness and having
panel discussions in many places – from Chicago to Salt Lake City, we’ve gone to Kansas City. Unexpected places in some cases
and the Oscar nomination just helps raise the awareness in an election so hopefully we can get a lot of people talking about this –
and not just the LGBT community because I really believe as a heterosexually married woman that this is my problem, too. This is
my responsibility, too.
WCT: That’s great to hear.
CW: I don’t want to live in a nation where some couples are granted some rights and other couples are not granted those rights. I
want to live in a nation where ALL couples have the same rights.
WCT: Here, here.
CW: It’s my responsibility, too. So, that was my goal – to really use it as a tool and a agent of change so the Oscar nomination is
amazing and it’s great and if they have a ceremony I get to wear a dress and all of that—
WCT: Yes – what are you wearing?
CW: I don’t know.
WCT: All the ladies and all the gay men are going to want to know, “What are you going to wear? Who’s your designer, darling?”
(CW laughs) Listen, let me give you some numbers.
CW: Believe me, I will be getting the opinion of many gay men because they will tell the truth. Yes, I promise. But ultimately this
really needs to be about the issue; about Laurel’s legacy.
WCT: This is a Diane Sawyer/Barbara Walters/Oprah question – where were you when you heard the news? Were you in bed? Were
you with the kids, waking them up for school?
CW: No I was actually at Sundance because we realized that if we got the nomination I would be in the middle of all of the media
and it would make a much bigger difference to be there as opposed to in Brooklyn, New York where I live (laughs). So I went there
and I actually paid somebody in LA to get up at an ungodly hour and to go to the Academy Awards office at 5:30 in the morning to
hear the announcements – because they announce everything there at that time. That was 6:30 my time – Utah time – and she
called me at 6:45 so I was prepared for the call but she didn’t say it right away. I mean, she was like, “How are you doing?” and I
was, “Uhhh, I’m fine. How are you?” Like, it was so drawn out.
WCT: (laughing) “I’m going to kill you if you don’t tell me right now!”
CW: “Tell me, tell me!” And it really could have gone either way and then I said, “I’m fine, I’m having I think a good day” and she
said, “Well, your day’s about to get much better.”
WCT: Schwew!
CW: Yeah!!! So that’s great, it’s awesome.
WCT: Now can people see it? I know it’s coming out on DVD at some point soon?
CW: Yes. There’s a trailer on our website, www.freeheld.com and I’m very proud of the trailer – it’s a good, sound trailer – just to
sort of tantalize people and you can sign up for an email when the DVD becomes available. I am in final negotiations now with a
major television broadcast outlet. I can’t say who it is yet but I believe we’re going to be finalizing a contract and they will be
broadcasting this film nationally in June – Pride month – just a couple of months before the national elections.
WCT: Great, great.
CW: And then there will be repeat screenings throughout the summer to garner more interest toward the elections and then, I think,
by the summer, certainly by the end of the summer we will release a DVD for people which is something I’m really excited about
because we will have many extras on the DVD. There were lots of great things that I filmed that I couldn’t put in there because I
had to compete under 40 minutes – and the film’s 38 minutes – as a short. So, they’re going to be all these deleted scenes and
extra interviews with Laurel and Stacie and behind the scenes stuff so it will be this expanded DVD in the summer which I’m really
personally excited about.
WCT: Have you spoken to Stacie? This is a wonderful legacy for Laurel. What has she had to say about this?
CW: Stacie and I spoke very early on Tuesday morning after the Oscar nomination was announced. She was really happy and
thrilled and said, “This is what Laurel wanted and I’m just so happy.” She said that the night before the nominations – because she
was aware that it was coming down the pike – she said she kind of had a body chill and then in her mind she thought, “Wow, this is
it. We’re going to get nominated.” So she was probably as excited as I was and really happy, mostly for Laurel’s sake because it
was something that Laurel really wanted.
WCT: Well I have to say that this is the first time in the history – you know this is the gay man’s national holiday, the Oscars – this
is the first time in 40 years of watching that I can’t wait to see the Best Documentary Short Subject award come up (laughs).
CW: Oh, that’s really funny (laughs). Okay, well, here’s the thing – I’m going to do my best with every gay man I know to be
dressed properly with the right jewelry, the right hair and everything but I’m just a simple documentary filmmaker from Brooklyn so
be kind, be kind, okay!
WCT: We’ll be kind and thank you so much for this gift to the world. It’s a wonderful piece of filmmaking and congratulations on
the nomination and we’ll hope to see you in the winner’s circle.
CW: Okay, thank you so much.
