‘Not afraid to bet on myself’: Filmmaker brings story of shift from Wall Street to movie screens to Medgar Evers College

By David Gil de Rubio  |  dgilderubio@mec.cuny.edu

The entrepreneurial spirit is what drives Emelyn Stuart, who transformed a lucrative career on Wall Street to that of award-winning independent film producer and movie house owner. 

As one of the panelists that will be appearing at the Women in Leadership: Breaking Barriers and Shaping the Future event that is being held at Medgar Evers College on Monday, March 11, she is eager to share the keys to success that have shaped her journey up to this point.

“I want these young people to know that if you have a dream, pursue it with everything you can, because time is going to pass anyway,” Stuart said.

The Sunset Park native’s humble beginnings started with a military stint before she went to work on Wall Street for two-plus decades, where she found she had a knack for flipping properties. The path to becoming an indie film producer came out of the latter business, where one of her clients asked her to vet a $10,000 project his nephew was seeking funding for.

“I read the script, thought it was hilarious and I went back to the uncle and told him his nephew was on to something,” Stuart recalled. “The uncle thought about it and said he wasn’t going to encourage it. He wanted the nephew to get a real job. I told him to give me the nephew’s number. I met with him and told him while I never produced anything, I was going to give him everything because I believed in him. We did the short film and $38,000 later, I won a bunch of awards for it. I thought if I could figure out how to make money, I could produce films for so many of these filmmakers that are talented but don’t have anyone who believes in them, they don’t know how to get the money or have the resources.”

Stuart has not only produced 21 projects to this point, including the acclaimed web series, 12 Steps to Recovery. Her experiences with the politics behind film festivals led the Lower East Side resident to create the New York-based Ocktober Film Festival (OFF) in 2012. 

A quest for further autonomy led to Stuart opening Stuart Cinema & Café in 2018. The Greenpoint-based independent offers a distribution alternative for independent filmmakers and a resource hub for artists and the surrounding community. 

“On Friday, March 15, I’m playing Shirley, which is the new Netflix biopic about Shirley Chisholm starring Regina King,” she said. “I’m the only theater that’s going to play it for a week. You know, why? Because if they don’t get it into a theater, it does not qualify for the Oscars. It’s gonna be a week in order to qualify — seven days, three times a day. I am running it because I’m the only Black theater and it’s an important film and I want people to see it.”

Having come from little means, Stuart didn’t start going to the movies until she was in the military. Her family couldn’t afford tickets and it’s an experience that continues to inform her. Not only does she have a SNAP program so SNAP recipients can afford to go to the movies, but ticket prices are $8 every Wednesday because, “…I want everyone to be able to watch movies.” 

Stuart Cinema and Café also navigated the pandemic as an essential small business at a time when its founder sold her house and car to float her struggling cinematic venture.

“During COVID-19, I was the only movie theater that was able to stay open because I had all the filtration systems in place because my system was new,” she said. “Because I had no debt and no investors, I was able to use the theater for people to watch their loved ones being buried around the country.

“At four o’clock, we gave away our food and in the morning between 9 a.m. and noon, people were able to come and use laptops in our theater to apply for unemployment to get help with benefits. The theater was buzzing all day every day. I used the honor system for the people using the theater and had them pay what they could. I came out okay because I was not afraid to bet on myself.”

Stuart continues to provide mentorship through OFF and its role as a teaching festival via pitch contests, workshops and resource fairs. The mini-movie mogul is also moving ahead with expansion with a multiplex slated to open in Brownsville in the near future. That message of purpose, passion, serious work ethic and commitment is what she hopes students will take away from the panel she’ll be taking part in at Medgar Evers College. 

“Do what you can with what you have because that will start the ball rolling,” she said. “All the films that I have produced. I’ve done what I can with what I’ve been able to get. You don’t need a million dollars. If all you have is $300 make a two-minute short with whatever you have.

“Moving forward gets you on the path to where you’re going and it does wonders.to prove to yourself what you can do. Because you don’t know what you can do until you do it.”

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Women’s History Month calendar

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