Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

WATCH: Trailer for Lena Dunham’s ‘Eloise’ Doc

Sorry quarter-life crisis — Lena Dunham has set her sights on something decidedly younger, milder and more whimsical.

The writer, director and actress debuted a trailer for her new documentary short, “It’s Me, Hilary: The Man Who Drew Eloise,” a portrait of Hilary Knight, the illustrator behind the beloved children’s book series “Eloise.”

The film — which premiered at Sundance and will air this spring on HBO —was born from Dunham’s friendship with the 88-year-old artist and her lifelong love of the vivacious little girl at the “tippity top floor of the Plaza Hotel”.

Knight, who reached out to Dunham after learning she had a tattoo of Eloise inked to her lower back, began the famed series in 1955 with Jewish author Kay Thompson. The books struck a chord with Dunham, who told the New York Daily News that the magic came from its spirited, often times troublesome, protagonist. “As a little girl you don’t see that many representations of yourself beyond a good little child with pigtails.” Duhman said. “So, it was meaningful.”

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.