When I’m playing, I don’t know if I’m a girl, boy, dog, cat, whatever. It’s when I leave the stage that I’m reminded I’m a woman. — Emily Remler
About the Film
Emily Remler was a titan of jazz guitar, passing aged just 32 from a heroin-related heart attack in 1990. This film investigates her rise and tragic passing, shining a light on the pressures she felt as a female, Jewish guitarist in a male-dominated industry. In official co-operation with the Emily Remler Estate, the film blends TV and radio archive footage with newly conducted interviews with those who knew and were inspired by Emily.
The film opens at the height of Emily Remler’s powers — a young guitarist commanding the stage with precision and fire, her sound both disciplined and daring. From there, we move back to her formative years: a gifted child drawn to jazz’s complexity, refining her voice at Berklee College of Music, where her technical mastery began to crystallise into something unmistakably her own.
As the 1980s unfold, Emily rises rapidly through the jazz world, performing alongside luminaries such as Astrud Gilberto and Monty Alexander. Her reputation grows — not as a novelty, but as a formidable guitarist in her own right. Yet as her career accelerates, so too do the pressures of visibility, expectation, and life on the road.
The final movement of the film confronts the cost of that ascent. Emily’s untimely death at 32 is not treated as a footnote, but as a rupture. Through those who knew her, and a new generation of musicians who carry her influence forward, the film traces how her sound endures long after her voice was silenced.
Director’s Vision
Emily Remler’s story is not simply the story of a gifted musician who died young. It is the story of a woman who mastered an instrument historically dominated by men, at a time when technical brilliance was rarely expected — or tolerated — from female performers.
What draws me to Emily is the tension between control and vulnerability. On stage, her playing was disciplined, articulate, confident. Off stage, she struggled with addiction and the pressures of constant comparison in a male-dominated industry. The film will explore that contradiction without sensationalism. This is not a tabloid story about drugs; it is a portrait of artistic intensity and the cost of living at full voltage.
Formally, the film will be archive-driven and immersive. Rather than relying heavily on retrospective narration, we will allow Emily’s performances, interviews and recorded voice to shape the emotional spine of the story. Music will not function as background — it will structure the narrative. Solos will become turning points. Performances will carry emotional transitions.
What does it mean to be brilliant in a world that isn’t built to understand you?
The Filmmaker
Al Naffah
Director · Writer
Al Naffah is a London-based filmmaker and multiple award-winning screenwriter for his romantic comedy Stephanie Dellacosta, which won awards in New York, Cannes, Oxford, London and Barcelona and was a finalist at the Nashville Film Festival 2025. He was previously an assistant to the late Sir David Frost at Al Jazeera English, working on The Frost Interview with subjects including Paul McCartney, Isabel Allende, Gary Kasparov and Buzz Aldrin.
Executive Producer
Michael Rushworth
Produced By
AK Naffah Productions
Award-winning screenwriter and director developing character-driven feature films and documentaries.