Sonia

Synopsis

Sonia Pressman Fuentes’ life was saved multiple times before she turned six. She grew up knowing that she wanted to lead a life with purpose, but it wasn’t until she was in her late 30s, while working to uphold the Civil Rights Act, that she discovered her calling. With the passion of a convert, Sonia was reborn as a feminist activist.

Anchored by a sit-down interview with Sonia and a personal archive detailing her beginnings in Berlin, her childhood in the Catskills and Miami, her legal career and lifelong commitment to equality, the film weaves together her remarkable life.

At age 96, as Sonia faces her final chapter, she reflects on her history, her contribution and her mortality. Sonia’s determination to be remembered is her final feminist act.

About the Directors

Sarah Colt

Since founding Sarah Colt Productions in 2008, Sarah Colt has primarily directed, written and produced for PBS’ award-winning history series, American Experience – including the Emmy-nominated Walt Disney, The Gilded Age, Henry Ford, The Polio Crusade, and, most recently, Fly With Me, which tells the surprising history of female flight attendants and their crucial role in fighting for workplace equity and was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Historical Documentary. The Disrupted, Sarah Colt’s first independent feature documentary, premiered in 2020, is an emotionally rich observational drama about three middle class Americans and their urgent efforts to overcome financial circumstances beyond their control. Sarah has earned several awards for her work including an Emmy and a Peabody nomination.

Emily Schuman

Emily Schuman is a documentary producer and filmmaker currently co-directing two short films: The Baker’s Hotline, a playful look at a real emergency hotline for home bakers, and SONIA, which chronicles the extraordinary life of feminist pioneer Sonia Pressman Fuentes. Her directorial debut, When I’m Her (ITVS), follows a dancer who finds freedom through his glamorous alter ego, Madame Olga. She is producing Northern Residents, a feature about orca researchers on Hanson Island, and Finding Fanny, a portrait of 19th-century lithographer Fanny Palmer. Emily co-produced Judy Blume Forever (Sundance 2023). Based in Brooklyn, she began her career as an IATSE Local 600 camera assistant.

Artistic Statement

Director Sarah Colt first met Sonia while researching Fly With Me, a PBS film she wrote and directed about female flight attendants and their fight for workplace equity. Sonia’s infectious spirit and remarkable personal journey compelled Sarah to pursue a documentary about her. For director Emily Schuman, the recent death of her grandmother Etta, a first-generation Jewish immigrant, who lost many of her family in the Holocaust, deepened her motivation to tell Jewish stories. At her grandmother’s funeral, where Emily was three months pregnant, Emily became acutely aware of her responsibility to the future of the family her grandmother started in America.

Sarah and Emily believe Sonia’s extraordinary life is a testament to the impact of one individual in shaping a more just world, and that in this divisive time audiences will connect with Sonia’s resilience, humor, and passion, regardless of their political or religious backgrounds.