A Certain Woman

A Certain Woman is a feature documentary about one woman - Shirael Pollack - and her journey as a female entrepreneur in the 21st Century. From humble beginnings as a first generation immigrant in the melting pot that is the United States, Shirael Pollack lives her life by the motto that a living is what you get, but a life is what you give.The film introduces us to Shirael as she gets about her day in her adopted hometown of Hoboken, New Jersey. Despite the Manhattan skyline providing a spectacular, ever-present backdrop, Shirael’s days might look familiar to many of us; getting her kids up and ready for school, heading to yoga, meeting up with friends for dinner - and organizing a glamorous gala with her colleagues and fellow Hobokenites. We joined Shirael on a Monday, just three days ahead of the third annual gala in aid of the Hoboken Public Education Foundation, of which Shirael is a founding member. Shirael’s journey as an entrepreneur has led her down this path of championing the public schools of Hoboken by creating a non-profit foundation, the HPEF, to improve both the quality and the perfection of the local public education services. As we get closer to the gala date, interviews with those close to Shirael paint a more detailed picture of this Certain Woman and her life’s work. We meet her supportive husband Dylan, her daughters Gabby and Dhalia and her longtime friends, fellow mothers and entrepreneurs, each on their own journey of balancing new and old expectations that working mothers everywhere face. There is the Mayor of Hoboken Ravi Bhalla, who Shirael helped campaign for, her oncologist and her mother, father and sister with whom she discusses the impact of her cancer diagnosis 20 months earlier. Despite having been given only months to live, Shirael has continued her work with the Hoboken Public Education Foundation with unabated energy and passion. Surpassing all the doctor’s expectations, the film stays with Shirael as we approach the day of the big gala - dissecting her particular life and journey as a first generation immigrant, woman, wife, mother, entrepreneur - all while juggling chemotherapy sessions and the big, existential life questions.