My Sister, the Oscar Winner
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| Cynthia Wade [Photos by Heidi Gutman] |
POWNAL, Vt. - Alison Benjamin always knew her sister was exceptional - a truly "unique talent" - but even she couldn't have predicted how quickly the brash, young filmmaker would find success.
"In retrospect, it's easy to see the path she took. She always saw things differently and she just had it, that moxie. Who would have predicted then, though, that she'd be where she is now?" said Benjamin, of her elder sister, Cynthia Wade.
Wade, a documentary filmmaker, and producer Vanessa Roth took home an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject for her film "Freeheld" at the 80th annual ceremony last week and Benjamin, a southern Vermont transplant, couldn't be prouder of her big sis.
"I was at the Images [Cinema] Oscar party and for three hours, I just saw one famous person after another up there. Then out of that crowd, there's my sister. It was like a collision of worlds," Benjamin recounted. "I'm just so glad that YouTube exists because, in the moment, it was just so stunning to me. I got so nervous when they were reading the nominees, I had to shut my eyes."
"As they said 'The Oscar goes to…' I was just so anxious. And when they said her name, my arms shot up and I was just screaming. It was thrilling."
"Freeheld," a documentary about New Jersey police Lt. Laurel Hester and her struggle to transfer her pension to her domestic partner after she was diagnosed with terminal cancer, beat out three other films to take the prize and was Wade's first statuette. According to Benjamin, the Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., native always had a knack for directing.
<L2>"She always had something going on. I remember as little kids sitting in the bathtub, she'd feed me these lines for a commercial she was making up in her head. She was always the director," Benjamin said.
Their mother's favorite story to tell about young Cynthia details a school trip to the planetarium. When the children were asked to draw pictures of what they saw that day, Wade had little interest in stars and planets.
"There was this small section of the planetarium, right at the beginning, that displayed pictures of women in science, something no one really looked at or noticed. But when my mom went in for parent/teacher night, she saw 25 pictures of stars on the walls and one of women. She knew right away it was Cynthia's," Benjamin said. "She wouldn't be interested in stars; she'd be interested in people."
Very close growing up, Benjamin watched her sister go away to Smith College in Northampton, where she made her first film, and then onto Stanford University for documentary film production. As Wade's films became critically-acclaimed successes, complete with showings at the Sundance Film Festival and on several major television networks, Benjamin began to admire her sister's work more and more.
"You need so much drive to do what she does. You need to be absolutely convinced that the world needs to see it or you just wouldn't do it," Benjamin said. "You need to push it as far as it needs to be pushed. Cynthia made an incredible film that told a beautiful story, a story that is important to tell."
"Freeheld," especially, captivated Benjamin, who had seen it in various stages over the years. The 38-minute film, both a chronicle of Lester's battle against her local lawmakers and of the love that Hester and her partner Stacie Andree share, brought to light an issue that plagues same-sex couples across the country.
"She had hours of material she had to tame into submission and she turned this issue - something that gets talked about in a really two-dimensional way - into something that is three-dimensional and beyond. That's what makes it powerful and compelling. You see the politics and you see something that has nothing to do with politics at the same time. It's really about humanity," said Benjamin.
"It ceases to be about a lesbian couple. It becomes about two people who love each other."
<R3>Though Wade is married (to Matthew Syrett) and has two children, Benjamin said she is often mistakenly called a "lesbian filmmaker."
"People assume because she made this film, she must be a lesbian but she just thought it was compelling story. They can't imagine that this totally straight, married woman who lives this mostly conventional life, would tell this story," said Benjamin.
Overcome with emotion as she walked to the podium to claim her Oscar, Wade received words of encouragement from presenter Tom Hanks.
"He said to her 'Get on up here, kiddo. This is your moment,'" Benjamin said. "She was just happy to be nominated and she knew there was a good chance she could win but it was really anybody's guess. She was just thrilled to be there."
Benjamin said Wade's phenomenal path is a result of determination and the pursuit of justice.
"You have to believe your story can be something and Cynthia did," she said.
Visit the "Freeheld" Web site to learn more about the film and Lester's struggle.
Click here to see Wade and Roth dish out the kudos, courtesy of the Academy Awards' "Thank You Cam."
