| Directed by Oscar®-winner Cynthia Wade, Mondays at Racine tells the uplifting story of Rachel Demolfetto and Cynthia Sansone, two sisters who do their part in the fight against cancer by providing free beauty treatments â hair, makeup, manicures and pedicures â to cancer patients at their salon every month. The sisters have a personal motivation in offering such treatments: they watched their mother grow reclusive and depressed after being diagnosed with breast cancer in the 1980s. Now, they own a beauty salon called Racine in Long Island, NY, which they open free of charge to women with cancer once a month on Mondays. Their goal: to give cancer patients a sense of normalcy and beauty, and in doing so, combat the fear that accompanies the disease. Airing during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, this 39-minute documentary profiles several of Racineâs regulars, many of whom wake up with the clumps of hair on their pillow, a symbol of the hair loss caused by chemotherapy. Without hair, âyou feel like youâre being erased,â one woman offers. Cancer can rob many women of their ability to feel like the person they once were, but Cynthia and Rachel are determined to help, with a little bit of blush and a lot of handholding. |
