(SOUTH EGREMONT, Mass.) – Cynthia Wade’s 39-minute documentary film Mondays at Racine, chronicling a salon in Long Island that opens its doors every month to women diagnosed with cancer, is nominated for an Academy Award in the Documentary Short Form category.  This is the second nomination for director Cynthia Wade, who previously won the Oscar in 2008 for her documentary short Freeheld.  This is a first-time nomination for producer Robin Honan. Wade is a member of the Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF) Advisory Board.

Every third Monday of the month, brassy Long Island, N.Y., sisters Cynthia and Rachel open up their hair salon, called Racine after their combined names, and offer free beauty services for women undergoing chemotherapy. Determined to make their customers feel beautiful, the glamour duo knows that Mondays at Racine goes far beyond purple painted toes and a frothy facial. The sisters are determined to give women losing their hair, eyebrows and eyelashes a sense of normalcy and dignity in a traumatic and uncertain time.  The story of what hair means in our culture quickly unfolds into an unexpected look at womanhood, marriage, and survival.

Mondays at Racine received Special Jury Mention from the SilverDocs Documentary Festival, Audience Award from the Boston Independent Film Festival, Audience Award from Indianapolis International Film Festival, and a nomination for an International Documentary Award from the IDA, all in 2012.

Academy Award-winning director Cynthia Wade, who lives in South Egremont, Mass., is known for making unflinching and intimate films about social issues. Over the course of her career she has won over 50 awards for her films, and including two wins at the SundanceFilm Festival and a 2008 Oscar. Her films include Shelter Dogs and Born Sweet.