'Bama Rush' director's previous films concern transgender lives, Selma Blair, gefilte fish

Mark Hughes Cobb, The Tuscaloosa News
·3 min read
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Rachel Fleit, director of "Bama Rush," a documentary about the University of Alabama's sorority recruitment process which begins streaming May 23 on Max (formerly HBO Max), has won awards for previous films including her 2021 "Introducing, Selma Blair," about the actress' adaptations following a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.

Before that feature-length work, Fleit created short films also based on intimate dissections of identity, such as:

  • "Ava & Bianca" (2020), about the relationship and working lives of Ava Benjamin Schorr and Bianca Cline, both transgender female cinematographers

  • "Gefilte" (2018), about a Jewish family finding beauty in the traditional holiday fish dish

  • "Barbara & Stanley: A Modern Romance," about a couple who've been in a long-distance relationship more than 40 years.

More: 'Bama Rush' documentary trailer crams a lot into two-and-a-half minutes

Fleit also directed a four-part 2017-2018 miniseries titled "Surveillance Cinema," re-imagining classic movie scenes as if captured by 21st century hidden or inconspicuous technology.

In "Introducing, Selma Blair," Fleit documented the actress' adjustments to MS, a lifelong autoimmune condition that affects the brain and spinal cord, and can affect mobility, speech, vision, swallowing and more, potentially causing a range of emotional and psychological disorders.

Blair, co-star of "Hellboy," "Legally Blonde" and "Cruel Intentions" was diagnosed in 2018, though in a recent interview with Vogue, said her condition had been misdiagnosed or ignored for more than 40 years, since childhood. Doctors and others wrote off early symptoms as "attention-seeking."

This photograph by Annie Leibovitz captures filmmaker Rachel Fleit, whose documentary "Bama Rush," about the 2022 sorority rush process at the University of Alabama, will begin streaming on Max (formerly HBO Max) Tuesday, May 23.
This photograph by Annie Leibovitz captures filmmaker Rachel Fleit, whose documentary "Bama Rush," about the 2022 sorority rush process at the University of Alabama, will begin streaming on Max (formerly HBO Max) Tuesday, May 23.

The director, who lives with alopecia areata, which causes hair loss, drew courage from Blair's journey, which included chemotherapy as part of a stem-cell treatment. The actress shaved her head so her then 10-year-old son wouldn't be shocked if Mom lost her hair from chemo.

“It struck me how quickly she was able to embrace her bald head," Fleit said, in an interview with Savoir Flaire magazine. "It had been this big struggle for me for so many years, and I watched how she embraced her MS, and I was just astounded at that — at the beauty of that. ...

“I hate the word ‘normal,' because it’s suggesting that the way that she and I are in the world is not right."

"Introducing, Selma Blair" premiered in the documentary feature competition at South by Southwest ― the film, music and interactive media festival held annually in Austin, Texas ― where it won Special Jury Recognition for Exceptional Intimacy in Storytelling. It was nominated for several other festival awards, winning five, and screened at theaters in limited release before streaming on Discovery.

“In everything I make, in everything I do, I want to show a different way of being. And that it’s OK that we don’t walk in a straight line or talk perfectly clearly nor have long, blonde hair to be considered beautiful in this world," Fleit said, in that magazine interview.

The upcoming "Bama Rush" follows four young women going through the recruitment process, shot on and around the UA campus last summer, 2022. Fleit's personal site describes the film exploring "... the emotional complexities and stakes of belonging during this crucial window into womanhood."

In "Introducing, Selma Blair," "Bama Rush" director Rachel Fleit journeys with the actress about her adjustments to life after a diagnosis of multiple scleroris.
In "Introducing, Selma Blair," "Bama Rush" director Rachel Fleit journeys with the actress about her adjustments to life after a diagnosis of multiple scleroris.

Fleit and producers Vice Studios apparently began working on "Bama Rush" following 2021, when videos of young women going through UA rush went viral on TikTok. A two-and-a-half-minute trailer shows footage from the film, with voices of young women and others discussing ramifications of the rites. One woman says "Sorority recommends a game. You have to know how to play it, because Greek life is everything, at Alabama."

As in the 2008 documentary film " 'Bama Girl," directed by Rachel Goslins, following women UA students striving to become homecoming queen, The Machine rears its head. A more than century-old secret society driving UA and local-regional politics, The Machine ― or someone speaking for it ― claims "The Machine will stop this!," referring to Fleit's film.

Currently, Fleit is writing and directing her first narrative (fiction) feature, titled "Up Island." For more, see www.rachelfleit.com/films.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: 'Bama Rush' director Rachel Fleit compiles award-winning film resume