Unorthodox star Shira Haas has signed on to headline period musical drama Ethel, which will tell the true story of Ethel Stark, the conductor who founded the first all-female orchestra in Montreal. Aisling Walsh (Maudie) will direct the film from an original screenplay by Celeste Parr.
Born in Quebec in 1910, Stark studied music from an early age, learning to play the violin and studying at the McGill Conservatory of Music in Canada. She founded the Montreal Women’s Symphony at 29 years old in 1940, and conducted for the orchestra until 1960. Throughout her life, Stark was known to fight for social equality in gender, race, language, and class.
Marie-Claude Poulin will produce Ethel for Sphere Media. Sphere Films, which is run by Charles Tremblay and focuses on projects that explore extraordinary Canadian women, will also distribute the film in Canada. Tremblay said in a statement:
“The addition of these titles to our already strong slate is a testament to the incredible talent in our industry. It’s a privilege to be part of sharing such important and vibrant stories.”
Haas is best known for starring in Netflix miniseries Unorthodox, which follows Esty, a nineteen-year-old Jewish woman who is living unhappily in an arranged marriage in an ultra-Orthodox sect in Brooklyn, New York. She runs away to Berlin, Germany to pursue a secular life, but her husband sets off after her.
Haas has also had roles in Jessica Chastain war drama The Zookeeper’s Wife and 2018 Rooney Mara biblical drama Mary Magdalene.
Other titles coming soon from Sphere Films include Out Standing, based on the memoir of Sandra Perron and about her experience of being Canada’s first female infantry officer and the fight against a system of institutional sexism, and The Braid, which sees Laetitia Colombani directing the adaptation of her own bestselling novel.
#Peace.Love.Ethel
