Event
Queen of the Deuce
This film showing is part of the Mandell JCC’s 28th Annual Phyllis Hoffman Hartford Jewish Film Festival!
“The story is unique and ultimately illuminates not just an odd time in the history of 42nd Street (“the Deuce”) but an unusual tale of the American Jewish experience.” – Orlando Weekly
“The true genius of Queen of the Deuce is how one woman’s life story opens up into a multitude of perspectives, allowing all the voices in her family to share in this portrait of the immigrant experience.” – That Shelf
Synopsis:
From the late ’60s to the mid ’80s, in the notorious Times Square area known as the Deuce, the eccentric, Greek-born Chelly Wilson built a porn cinema empire and a reputation as one of the most savvy and charismatic figures on the scene. With a cigarette in hand and bags of money stashed in the corner, Chelly regularly held court in her bunkerlike apartment above the legendary 8th Avenue all-male Adonis Theatre, summoning a lively cabal of associates, entertainers and fellow poker players, with her female lovers always hovering and grandchildren often underfoot. Yet few in her circle knew of the risks she took to get there. Queen of the Deuce reveals Chelly’s origins as a taboo-breaking entrepreneur and traces the fraught events that lead to her departure from Europe on the eve of war, and the unconventional trajectories of her American business ventures and personal life. With the rise of feminism, the sexual revolution and gay pride in frame, Queen of the Deuce is an alternate take on cultural history as seen through Chelly Wilson’s empowering story of survival.
This film showing is part of the Mandell JCC’s 28th Annual Phyllis Hoffman Hartford Jewish Film Festival!
