Genre
Synopsis
In the wake of Dobbs, state legislatures across the US take up the issue of abortion. States across the country—but particularly in the South—impose strict bans on the procedure. But in South Carolina, the only five women of the South Carolina Senate—Republicans, Democrats, and Independents—band together to fight against attempts to pass strict abortion bans in a legislative body that is overwhelmingly male and conservative. Despite protests and pushback, both public displays and private politicking, the women stand strong and successfully keep abortion legal in the state for more than a year—making South Carolina one of the last states in the American South to severely restrict the procedure when a 6-week ban goes into effect in August 2023. Their fight isn’t without blowback: as the 2024 elections loom, each of the five women learn they are being challenged in the primaries. Will they be able to hold onto their seats? With unprecedented access to the innerworkings of state government, SISTER SENATORS follows the five female senators over the course of a year and a half as they stand up for women's rights, jockey with political challengers, and ultimately discover a bond that transcends partisan politics as we know it.
Bio
Emily Harrold is a documentary filmmaker from Orangeburg, South Carolina who currently splits her time between South Carolina and New York City. Her films have screened at festivals including the Tribeca Film Festival, DOC NYC and the Telluride Film Festival. Her film Meltdown In Dixie, a TOPIC original documentary that is part of WORLD Channel’s America ReFramed Series, has garnered many awards including a 2022 dupont Columbia Finalist designation and a 2022 Silver Telly Award. Harrold has produced numerous films for PBS’s American Experience series including The Lie Detector, Flood in the Desert, and Voice of Freedom about singer Marian Anderson. Her feature documentary directing debut, While I Breathe, I Hope about politician Bakari Sellers, won the documentary Audience Award at the 2018 New Orleans Film Festival, premiered on WORLD Channel's AfroPop series in 2019, and won a 2020 Southeast Region Emmy. Her feature documentary producing debut, Monkey Business, about the creators of Curious George, premiered at the 2017 LA Film Festival and won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2017 Nantucket Film Festival. It streamed on HULU for five years and is now available on Criterion. Harrold is also part of the team behind Discovery's Tigerland (Sundance 2019) and National Geographic's Ron Howard-directed Rebuilding Paradise (Sundance 2020). She is part of DOC NYC’s 2021 40 Under 40 Class. Harrold is a member of Film Fatales, DPA and The Filmshop.
