Netflix Series ‘Unorthodox’ Nabs Emmy For Outstanding Directing

The popular Netflix series “Unorthodox” won an Emmy for outstanding directing for a limited series on Sunday night, with lead actress Shira Haas tuning in from Tel Aviv via video link around 4:00 am local time when her category was announced. Haas was nominated for “outstanding lead actress” and the show itself was nominated for a total of eight Emmys, including best directing which it won.

In Unorthodox, Haas’s character Esty Shapiro is a 19-year old Jewish woman living unhappily in an arranged marriage among an ultra-Orthodox community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Following a series of difficulties, she flees to Berlin where her estranged mother lives, and begins to abandon the lifestyle she was born into.

Haas was the first Israeli actress to receive an Emmy nomination in the outstanding lead actress category.

The German-American Netflix series debuted on Netflix in March 2020. It was the first Netflix series to be primarily in Yiddish and was inspired by the 2012 memoir “Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots” by Deborah Feldman.

The Emmy Awards were held Sunday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, hosted by late-night TV personality Jimmy Kimmell, with nominees tuning in virtually from across the world via special kits sent to them that included high-definition cameras and microphones, US magazine reported. The show featured pre-taped segments and live streaming.

“Are you familiar with homeschooling? It’s gonna be kinda like that,” Kimmell joked in the opening.

Even though the show was largely online, nominees still got dressed up. According to US celebrity gossip magazine Just Jared, Haas wore a Chanel navy blue, embroidered organza and chiffon bustier dress with a black sequin embroidered belt from the Spring-Summer 2020 Haute Couture collection.