Genre
Synopsis
Women facing their own mortality when diagnosed with breast cancer, are often on a conveyor belt from mastectomy to breast reconstruction without being given full disclosure of all their options. Many surgeons continue to discount women’s wishes for aesthetic flat closure (AFC) and push them toward reconstruction for reasons of deeply ingrained societal norms and training (aka “flat denial”). Insurance companies can (and often do) refuse to cover surgery for aesthetic flat closure although they are required by law to cover breast reconstruction with implants. Companies that produce implants fund the research on reconstruction outcomes. We will be examining this through subjects who have experienced flat denial firsthand and are actively working to change laws and culture. RE/CONSTRUCTION will explore how female bodily autonomy has been co-opted by a breast obsessed culture. Through motion graphics and archive the film will embark on a historical journey, tracing the sexualization and commodification of breasts through the ages. This creative exploration contextualizes the present movement within a broader tapestry of cultural and historical attitudes towards women's bodies, illuminating the roots of current societal challenges and perceptions. Without casting judgement on women who choose reconstruction, RE/CONSTRUCTION will present the need for understanding and justice of all options.
Director Identity
Bio
Sam is a filmmaker, professor, and photographer whose work strives to uncover and share the nuanced stories that resonate deeply with human emotions and our connection to one another. She has written/produced/directed documentary programs for networks including National Geographic, The History Channel, MSNBC, A&E and PBS. Her most recent short documentary, Swimming Through, screened at more than forty festivals worldwide winning numerous awards and was released by The New Yorker Documentary in December 2023. She has directed Emmy-award-winning documentaries including Our Children: Purpose Over Pain, centered around families who have lost children to gun violence. Sam co-produced the fiction feature film American Folk. Set against the backdrop of 9/11, this road movie musical, starring musicians Joe Purdy and Amber Rubarth, was nominated for the Panavision Spirit Award at the Santa Barbara Film Festival and won Best American Independent Film at the Cleveland International Film Festival and is distributed by Good Deed Entertainment. She also produced the feature film, Chicago Boricua, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and is distributed by Screen Media. She, along with her husband, documentary editor John Farbrother, founded and runs Green River Films, an Emmy-award winning Chicago-based production company. Sam teaches film at Columbia College Chicago, where she received an MFA in filmmaking, and at DePaul University.
