The Cinema Guild Store: FREEHELD

* Academy Award winner, Best Documentary Short Subject *

Freeheld is being adapted into a feature film written by Ron Nyswaner (Philadelphia) and starring Ellen Page (Juno).

Detective Lieutenant Laurel Hester spent 25 years investigating tough cases in Ocean County, New Jersey, protecting the rights of victims and putting her life on the line. She had no reason to expect that in the last year of her life, after she was diagnosed with terminal cancer, that her final battle for justice would be for the woman she loved.

The Academy Award Winning film Freeheld chronicles Laurel's struggle to transfer her earned pension to her domestic partner, Stacie Andree. With less than six months to live, Laurel refuses to back down when her elected officials – the Ocean County Freeholders – deny her request to leave her pension to Stacie, an automatic option for heterosexual married couples. The film is structured chronologically, following both the escalation of Laurel's battle with the Freeholders and the decline of her health as cancer spreads to her brain.

As Laurel’s plight intensifies, it spurs a media frenzy and a passionate advocacy campaign. At the same time, Freeheld captures a quieter, personal story: that of the deep love between Laurel and Stacie as they face the reality of losing each other. Alternating from packed public demonstrations at the county courthouse to quiet, tender moments of Laurel and Stacie at home, Freeheld combines tension-filled political drama with personal detail, creating a nuanced study of a grassroots fight for justice.

While Freeheld covers one woman's battle in a small New Jersey town, Laurel's ultimate success has universal implications. Her story is evidence that change can happen, even in the most unexpected places, when people stand up for what they believe. It is also a reminder that despite progress, not all Americans enjoy the same civil rights.

Directed by Cynthia Wade
2007, 38 minutes (plus over 100 minutes of extras)
Purchase: $295 Rental: $95

DVD Bonus Features (over 100 minutes)

* Academy Award, Best Documentary Short Subject, 80th Annual Academy Awards, 2008
* Special Jury Prize, Sundance Film Festival, 2007
* Special Jury Prize, Seattle International Film Festival, 2008
* Best Documentary, Palm Springs International Festival of Short Film, 2008
* Best Documentary, Zinegoak Film Festival, 2008
* Best Documentary Short, Newfest LGBT Film Festival, 2008
* Audience Award, Palm Springs International Festival of Short Film, 2008
* Audience Award, Independent Film Festival of Boston, 2008
* Audience Award, Outfest Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, 2008
* Audience Award, Long Island Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, 2008
* Audience Award, Spokane GLBT Film Festival, 2008
* Audience Award, Best Documentary, Connecticut Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, 2008
* Social Justice through Cinema Award, Denver Film Society, 2008
* John M. Deen Memorial Award, Spokane GLBT Film Festival, 2008
* Citizen Courage Award, Garden State Equality, 2008

[Three and a half stars] “A timely look at an important gay rights issue. Highly recommended.” – Video Librarian

“Highly recommended. A tight and well-told production just 38 minutes long, it takes the right amount of time to tell the story effectively.” - Library Journal

“Staggering and unforgettable.” - Cynthia Nixon

“An extraordinary film... it has the potential to change the hearts of Americans everywhere.” - Camryn Manheim

“Beautiful.” – Rosie O’Donnell

“A testament to how gripping a documentary about love, death, and a grassroots fight for justice can be. This look at a plainspoken New Jersey policewoman dying of cancer who wants her same-sex partner to receive her pension benefits is captivating from first moment to last.” - Indiewire

“Freeheld makes a strong argument that, in some corners of the country, the public has moved past complacency and into advocacy - and that widespread acceptance for gay couples' rights may be closer than many have guessed … ‘You have the power!’ the people at the meetings keep chanting, as they urge the freeholders to change their minds. But the people have it backwards. The power turns out to be theirs.” - The Boston Globe

“Freeheld is simply an amazing documentary, a true piece of unscripted reality, with all its blemishes and beauty intact. It is a documentary that pays fitting tribute to a true hero, a woman who refused to compromise and who ultimately helped to secure for all of us a little bit more of the equality we all richly deserve. A+” - Edge Boston

“Fortunately, in Laurel's tragedy lies the foundation for change.” - Variety

“Outstanding. An absolutely amazing film, it demonstrates again what we learned here in Washington this past legislative session - showing the injustice of discrimination faced by same sex couples by personalizing it with real human faces and stories is the most effective tool for changing public opinion.” - Seattle Gay News

“A heart-stopping documentary.” - Philadelphia Gay News

“It's been a long journey, I'm sure, for everyone involved with the film, and while the struggle for equal marriage rights continues, advancements are being made through the courageous actions of people like Hester, Andree and Wade.” - Washington Blade

“[Freeheld] packs a wallop as a wrenching portrayal of a monumental injustice. Luminous scenes of Hester and her lover, Stacie Andree, are balanced with sequences of Hester's tragic decline and riveting moments of combat in the Freeholder meetings... Bring a hanky.” - Just Out Magazine

“Highly recommended. In the short 38 minutes of the film, Hester’s private struggle with her disease as well as her public one with discrimination are unflinchingly portrayed with compassion and respect. Director Wade, in telling this story, also encapsulates a significant political and social moment in United States family policy and equality legislation.” - Educational Media Reviews Online

Trailer for Freeheld