"TWO OF THE FUNNIEST AND MOST OUTRAGEOUS QUEER ACTIVISTS YOU’LL EVER SEE...THEY MOVE, ENLIGHTEN, INSPIRE”
- Variety
From Academy Award Nominee and Emmy Winner Deborah Dickinson
“LIVELY, HEARTWARMING, AND FREQUENTLY HILARIOUS”
- The New York Times
“TOUCHING AND ILLUMINATING”
- Boston Globe
“UNFILTERED, UNAFRAID, UNFORGETTABLE”
- The Houston Chronicle
“IF DOROTHY AND BLANCHE ON THE GOLDEN GIRLS HAD EVER COME OUT, THEY’D BE RUTHIE AND CONNIE”
- Miami Herald
"WONDERFUL...NO ONE WILL LEAVE WITHOUT SMILING OR SHEDDING A TEAR"
- San Francisco Examiner
"THE GAY COMMUNITY'S CLAIM THAT THE STEREOTYPES ARE WRONG AND THAT LESBIANS COME IN ALL TYPES HAS RARELY FOUND MORE ELOQUENT PROOF THAN RUTHIE AND CONNIE"
- Chicago Reader
“LIVELY, HEARTWARMING, AND FREQUENTLY HILARIOUS”
- The New York Times
“TOUCHING AND ILLUMINATING”
- Boston Globe
“UNFILTERED, UNAFRAID, UNFORGETTABLE”
- The Houston Chronicle
“IF DOROTHY AND BLANCHE ON THE GOLDEN GIRLS HAD EVER COME OUT, THEY’D BE RUTHIE AND CONNIE”
- Miami Herald
"WONDERFUL...NO ONE WILL LEAVE WITHOUT SMILING OR SHEDDING A TEAR"
- San Francisco Examiner
"THE GAY COMMUNITY'S CLAIM THAT THE STEREOTYPES ARE WRONG AND THAT LESBIANS COME IN ALL TYPES HAS RARELY FOUND MORE ELOQUENT PROOF THAN RUTHIE AND CONNIE"
- Chicago Reader
FILM INFORMATION
GENRE: Documentary
DIRECTOR: Deborah Dickinson
CAST: Ruthie Berman, Connie Kurtz
DVDCAT#: PRDVD2567
RUNTIME: 64 min.
RATING: NR
PRODUCTION YEAR: 2001
LANGUAGE TRACKS: English
SUBTITLES: English
CLOSED CAPTIONED
PUBLIC PERFORMANCE RIGHTS LICENSING:
Starting at $199
Other Organizations & Institutions please contact info@passionriver.com for a quote
DIRECTOR: Deborah Dickinson
CAST: Ruthie Berman, Connie Kurtz
DVDCAT#: PRDVD2567
RUNTIME: 64 min.
RATING: NR
PRODUCTION YEAR: 2001
LANGUAGE TRACKS: English
SUBTITLES: English
CLOSED CAPTIONED
PUBLIC PERFORMANCE RIGHTS LICENSING:
Starting at $199
Other Organizations & Institutions please contact info@passionriver.com for a quote
Subject Areas: Documentary, LGBT, Jewish Studies, Family, American Studies, Gender Studies
Set in working class Jewish Brooklyn — RUTHIE AND CONNIE follows two very funny, if rather traditional housewives. Like many young women in the 1950s, they got married. Then, like many young women in the 1970s, they got divorced. Unlike most, however, they both left their husbands for another woman: each other.
For Connie, it was liberating. For Ruth, it was wrenching. And for the community that loved them so much, it was the scandal of the century. In a landmark case in 1988, they sued the New York City Board of Education for domestic partner benefits. Overnight, they became national heroines — and after a five-year struggle, they made history again when they won those benefits not only for themselves, but for all New York City employees, straight and gay.
The suit, the first of its kind, helped pave the way for what has now become the LGBT community’s crusade for full civil rights and marriage equality.
Yet RUTHIE AND CONNIE is much more than a film about two activists and their gut-wrenching coming-out story. It’s about taking risks and challenging values; it’s about two women who spent much of their lives doing “the right thing” – until they discovered that it just wasn’t right for them.
Framed by the feminist movement and gay liberation, RUTHIE AND CONNIE dares the world to take a new look at traditional “apple-pie” values: family, community, religious beliefs, justice — and above all, love. Whether marching in the Gay Pride Parade, or dancing on the Coney Island boardwalk, they are clever, passionate, angry – and dearly want this film, as they put it, “to continue to help people think and act differently.”
Today, Ruthie and Connie are now legally married after decades of sharing unparalleled love.
Set in working class Jewish Brooklyn — RUTHIE AND CONNIE follows two very funny, if rather traditional housewives. Like many young women in the 1950s, they got married. Then, like many young women in the 1970s, they got divorced. Unlike most, however, they both left their husbands for another woman: each other.
For Connie, it was liberating. For Ruth, it was wrenching. And for the community that loved them so much, it was the scandal of the century. In a landmark case in 1988, they sued the New York City Board of Education for domestic partner benefits. Overnight, they became national heroines — and after a five-year struggle, they made history again when they won those benefits not only for themselves, but for all New York City employees, straight and gay.
The suit, the first of its kind, helped pave the way for what has now become the LGBT community’s crusade for full civil rights and marriage equality.
Yet RUTHIE AND CONNIE is much more than a film about two activists and their gut-wrenching coming-out story. It’s about taking risks and challenging values; it’s about two women who spent much of their lives doing “the right thing” – until they discovered that it just wasn’t right for them.
Framed by the feminist movement and gay liberation, RUTHIE AND CONNIE dares the world to take a new look at traditional “apple-pie” values: family, community, religious beliefs, justice — and above all, love. Whether marching in the Gay Pride Parade, or dancing on the Coney Island boardwalk, they are clever, passionate, angry – and dearly want this film, as they put it, “to continue to help people think and act differently.”
Today, Ruthie and Connie are now legally married after decades of sharing unparalleled love.
