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Crystal R. Emery

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Crystal R. Emery
Other namesCrystal Emery-Kerr

Crystal Renee Emery is a filmmaker and founder and CEO of URU The Right To Be, Inc., a nonprofit content production company.[1] She is an If/Then ambassador and was featured in the Smithsonian's "#IfThenSheCan - The Exhibit", a collection of life-sized 3D-printed statues of role models in STEM.[2]

Early life and education

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Emery grew up in the Brookside neighborhood of New Haven.[3] Her interest in filmmaking started from a young age.[4] In the third grade, she started directing plays with her brothers. By fifth grade she wrote and directed her first play about Harriet Tubman's work to free people who were enslaved.[5][6]

Emery has a B.A. from the University of Connecticut (1985)[7] and then worked as an apprentice in theater with Lloyd Richards[8] and as a production assistant for Bill Duke.[9] She went on to sharpen her producing skills under the tutelage of Suzanne de Passe during the filming of The Jacksons: An American Dream (1991-1992).[10] She returned to the East Coast to New York City and She then moved to New York City and earned an M.A. in media studies from The New School of Public Engagement.[2] In 2018 she received an honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Connecticut (2018).[8]

In 2018, Emery was the keynote speaker for the graduation of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences where she received two standing ovations from crowds of over 10, 000 people.[11]

Career

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Emery began directing plays while she was in college.[12] She has directed multiple documentary films including The Deadliest Disease in America[13][14] and Changing the Face of Medicine.[15] In 2010[16] she began working on the documentary Black Women in Medicine in which she interviews seven black physicians and combines the interviews with historical videos from the 1950s and 1960s.[17] The film was well-received, having a theatrical run in 2016 and later airing on American Public Television. It was also screened internationally as part of the American Film Showcase.[18]

Her written works include Sweet Nez,[9][19] the play A Way Out of No Way[20] and a book titled Against All Odds, which features 100 prominent Black women medical doctors.[15] She worked on a virtual reality game called You Can't Be What You Can't See which allows players to step into a virtual reality world as a medical professional.[21]

She is a member of the Producers Guild of America and New York Women in Film and Television. Emery has also served as an If/Then Ambassador for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), where she was featured in the Smithsonian's #IfThenSheCan - The Exhibit, a collection of life-sized 3D-printed statues of women in STEM. [22]

Personal life

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While in college, Emery was diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth, a degenerative nerve disease[7] and she lives with quadriplegia and diabetes.[13]

References

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  1. ^ "Home - URU The Right To Be". www.urutherighttobe.org. Retrieved 2022-11-17.
  2. ^ a b "| IF/THEN® Collection". www.ifthencollection.org. Retrieved 2022-11-17.
  3. ^ McLoughlin, Pamela (9 June 2014). "Former tenants honored for making New Haven apartment complex special in its early days". New Haven Register; New Haven, Conn. [New Haven, Conn]. pp. A.4 – via ProQuest.
  4. ^ Doherty, Donna (24 July 2011). "PIONEER PHYSICIANS; Filmmaker Crystal Emery needs funds to complete her homage to these women". New Haven Register; New Haven, Conn. [New Haven, Conn]. pp. F.1.
  5. ^ "Energy in Motion: FIlmmaker Crystal R. Emery is a Force for Change in STEM - AWIS Magazine". AWIS. 2021-04-22. Retrieved 2022-11-17.
  6. ^ Fitzpatrick, Jackie (1991-12-22). "Director Writes Her Own Script in Life, Too". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-12-26.
  7. ^ a b Megan, Kathleen (May 6, 2018). "Quadriplegic Filmmaker, Producer Urges UConn Grads To 'Never Stop, Never Give Up'". Hartford Courant. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
  8. ^ a b Cole, Kristen (2018-04-27). "2018 Commencement Speakers". UConn Today. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
  9. ^ a b Toppman, Lawrence (1993-04-25). "How to make a movie cheaply: That's the ticket". The Charlotte Observer. p. 67. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
  10. ^ "Exclusive Interview with the talented American documentarist Crystal Emery". www.megadiversities.com. Retrieved 2024-08-22.
  11. ^ Eckhardt, Bret (2018-05-07). "Crystal Emery '85 (SFA) an Inspiration to CLAS Graduates". UConn Today. Retrieved 2024-08-22.
  12. ^ Dunne, Susan (2016-08-21). "Medical struggle for black women". Hartford Courant. pp. [1], [2]. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
  13. ^ a b Fitzgerald, Toni. "New Documentary Focuses On Health Care's Greatest Threat. It's Not Covid". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-11-17.
  14. ^ "The deadliest disease in America". Ability; Costa Mesa. October–November 2021. pp. 20–25 – via ProQuest.
  15. ^ a b Hall, Mia (August 30, 2016). "Documenting and supporting Black women doctors in America". NBC News. Retrieved 2022-11-17.
  16. ^ Raven, Kathleen (2016-05-05). "Still against all odds: 'Black Women in Medicine'". YaleNews. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
  17. ^ Reviews of Black Women in Medicine
    • Williams, Jhodie-Ann (June 23, 2016). "'Black Women in Medicine' is forcing the need for Black women doctors to the forefront". New York Amsterdam News – via Gale.
    • Manning, Kimberly D. (2017-10-10). "Black Women in Medicine —A Documentary". JAMA. 318 (14): 1306–1307. doi:10.1001/jama.2017.11551. ISSN 0098-7484. PMID 29049567.
    • Amarante, Joe (12 November 2015). "New Haven filmmaker Crystal Emery spotlights pioneering black women docs". New Haven Register; New Haven, Conn. [New Haven, Conn] – via ProQuest.
  18. ^ "Black Women In Medicine". Crystal R. Emery. 2021-09-16. Retrieved 2024-08-22.
  19. ^ Fitzpatrick, Jackie (1994-10-23). "The State's Already Got Live-In Stars, Now to Organize Supporting Casts". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
  20. ^ Carty, Linnet (1998-06-12). "Musical at Atheneum was a stirring tribute". Hartford Courant. p. 32. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
  21. ^ Matthews, Nadine (28 January 2021). "Filmmaker Crystal Emery focuses on Black women doctors". New York Amsterdam News; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. p. 16 – via ProQuest.
  22. ^ "New Haven STEM pioneer honored with statue on National Mall in D.C." New Haven Register. March 4, 2022. Retrieved August 22, 2024.


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