Emily Abt is an award-winning feminist filmmaker and the founder of Pureland Pictures. Her first film, a documentary called Take it From Me, was about the impact of American welfare policies on individual Americans. Since Take it From Me came out in 2001, Abt has made several more films, including All of Us, which is about African American women and HIV/AIDS and most recently, Toe to Toe, a story about young women, race, sex and friendship, that screened at Sundance this year.
Abt, who spoke on a panel with our own Courtney Martin at the 92nd St. Y earlier this month, says that she hopes that the film will encourage audiences to think about the issues it addresses, and especially about the sexualization of young women and interracial friendship. This semester, she's teaching a class on social issue film at Princeton University, my alma mater, and my campus spies tell me that the class is "so damn good."
You can check out the trailer for Toe to Toe here, and learn more about Abt's earlier films here.
And now, without further ado, the Feministing Five, with Emily Abt.
Chloe Angyal: What led you to making films, and specifically to making a film about the issues you tackled in Toe to Toe?
Emily Abt: I came to filmmaking in a roundabout way; I used to be a caseworker. And I was doing that right when the Personal Responsibility Act was going through, and the way we treated poor people in our country was changing drastically. There were time limits being placed on public assistance, and work requirements, and I felt very much in the middle of that, as a caseworker during that time. And I had always loved films, and I decided that I wanted to make a documentary that captured the human impact of what I was witnessing. So that's what I did. I followed four of my former clients over a couple of years, as they transitioned from welfare to work, and I ended up selling the film, Take it From Me, to POV, which is PBS' premiere independent documentary series. And that was an incredible experience, and I had beginner's luck in that I was able to sell this film, without having had a lot of experience beforehand. So that's how I got started, thirteen years ago.
I'm very much a social issues filmmaker and very much a feminist filmmaker, and I think that the two things that Toe to Toe deals with in terms of social issues are the sexualization of teenaged girls and race. With the character of Jesse, I'm basically trying to get audiences to look at the sexualization of teenagers, and of teenaged girls specifically, and ask themselves if that's always such a good thing. I think given current statistics - one in four teenaged girls has an STD, teen pregnancy rates are increasing - that it's a really good time to be having that discussion. So that's one of the things Toe to Toe takes on. It also focuses very much on race relations. I hope that people will be inspired by the authentic relationship that Tosha and Jesse have, in that the girls are very honest and direct with each other. They come from very different backgrounds, but what they have in common is that they're both truth tellers. It's not a "kumbaya" film; they don't have an easy relationship, but it's a strong and a real one, and ultimately they're willing to sacrifice a lot for each other.
That whole storyline was encouraged by the fact that for 87% of Americans, their interracial friendships end at age fourteen, which I thought very much went against the way we like to think about race relations as a country. That's a New York Times statistic from a story they did a few years ago, it was a series on race relations, and I read that statistic and it really really jumped out at me. So I'm hoping that audiences will be inspired to reach a little bit further in terms of their own relationships and not be afraid to have some of those awkward conversations that a lot of people avoid, but that ultimately can bring you closer.
CA: Who are is your favorite fictional heroine, and who are your heroines in real life?
EA: For fictional heroines, I like the two girls in my film, Jesse and Tosha. I think they're brave.
My heroines in real life are my mother, my aunts, my many good girlfriends. I'm a fan of Hillary. They're strong and outspoken.
CA: What recent news story made you want to scream?
EA: I think Martha Coakley has gotten pretty beaten up in the press, but I also think a lot of that is appropriate. I guess I sort of wish people would leave Sarah Palin alone. I sort of feel sorry for her, and I don't find it that interesting to keep giving her foibles that much attention.
CA: What, in your opinion, is the greatest challenge facing feminism today?
EA: I think that there's two. I think that a big challenge is getting young women to identify with feminism and as feminists. I also think that feminists really have their work cut out for them in terms of what's going on in countries like Afghanistan and the Ivory Coast, places where there's a lot of violence against women. I think the greatest push should be around those areas. Obviously, feminists in our country have domestic things to work on in terms of the availability of abortion and all that, but I feel like the most urgent needs are in places like the Congo and Afghanistan.
CA: You're going to a desert island, and you're allowed to take one food, one drink and one feminist. What do you take?
EA: I would take avocado, a big glass of milk, and Bella Abzug. She was such a badass. If I could talk with her anywhere that'd be great, and a desert island would certainly do.