Filmmaking | Interviews

Portrait of a Survivor

1 Sep , 2004  

Written by Ellen Mills | Posted by:

In 1993, Cynthia McKeown heard that an acquaintance, Janice Fine, had been diagnosed with breast cancer. What began as a casual offer to videotape Fine’s experiences for posterity became a nine year collaboration resulting in a profound and intimate portrait of a cancer survivor, screening at the Coolidge Corner Theatre this month.

Cynthia McKeown searches for words thoughtfully when describing how her unplanned filmmaking odyssey of "One In Eight: Janice’s Journey" began, "It was one of those — what is the word — serendipitous? — instances in life. I wasn’t thinking about making a film about breast cancer at all, but I heard that someone I knew was diagnosed. I was floored by the diagnosis — I thought how could such an emotionally honest, articulate person be lost. I wanted there to be something preserved of her should she not make it."

McKeown then took the crucial step of putting her thoughts into action and contacted Janice Fine. She sent a card to Fine saying how sorry she was to hear of her diagnosis and offering to videotape what lay ahead. McKeown says she believes, "Video can be a very reflective tool" and it was with this belief that she offered to record Fine’s thoughts and feelings as she began her course of treatment.

"One month later she wrote back," says McKeown, "saying, ‘I thought about it and I want to do it.’"

From Fine’s point of view that month involved an evolution in her thinking. "When Cindy first approached me about it all I could think of was that PBS show about the Loud family. My first reaction was: ‘that would be horrible’! Also, at the time the AIDS epidemic was in full swing and people I knew had made videos as a way of saying good-bye, and I didn’t think I could handle that."

It was Fine’s contrasting experiences with different doctors that changed her mind. "Initially my experience was one of having a bad interaction with the doctor who gave me the diagnosis and then a great experience with my new doctor. I thought, ‘God, it would be so powerful for other women who have been diagnosed to see what a good doctor/patient relationship is.’"

When Fine went to meet the nurses who would be administering her chemotherapy they gave her a video that another cancer patient had made about how to tie scarves around your head to camouflage hair loss. "It was actually helpful," she says, "but it was superficial. It didn’t address what an intense and hard experience it is." To provide other cancer patients with a video that would help and inform them became Fine’s motivating factor for doing the project. "I wanted it to be concrete and hopeful and supporting for other women."

Neither woman knew at the beginning what lay in store for Fine as a cancer patient. McKeown relates, "When she was diagnosed, her tumor was Stage III and her prognosis was not so great.

"I tried to capture as much of the actual experiences as I could — the different treatments and doctors, " says the filmmaker. McKeown and Fine would also talk about what was going on.

"Janice is an amazing person," says McKeown. "She would think about things before I came and then do ‘performance pieces’ for the camera." McKeown says that Fine has a way of talking to the camera so that it seems like an intimate conversation with the camera acting as the conduit. The viewer feels like a close friend and confidante.

Fine’s thoughts about her body as she goes through chemotherapy are very moving. At times, Fine is startlingly direct and honest. In one sequence, she sits before a mirror and unselfconsciously disrobes as she discusses her desire to look at her breasts one more time before her surgery changes them.


Director and Producer Cindy McKeown.
[Click to enlarge]

Fine says she found the videotaping to be therapeutic. ""It gave me an incredible venue. It was like talk therapy. I do my best thinking out loud. It kept me from repressing a lot of stuff and let me tap into my creative side."

To be involved in the difficult, uncertain and very personal experience was challenging for McKeown. "I had to be careful not to impose myself as too much of a presence in her life [and] give her some control over the process. For McKeown there were ethical issues brought up by virtue of being the "keeper of this information."

The production process was hard and long: nine years in total. McKeown shot all of the footage herself, beginning on Hi8 and then MiniDV. She jokes that, "I may not be speedy but I’m very persistent. I have a strong completion drive.

"What kept me motivated was that this is a really good story and an important story, and one that I had not seen depicted," she says. Meanwhile, she was working full-time and writing grant proposals and fundraising for "One in Eight." "Most of the funding came from individuals. People wrote checks from five dollars to $5,000, but most were in the 25 to 50 dollar range," she notes. McKeown also obtained grants from the Race For the Cure Fund, Mellon New England and in-kind support from the Boston Film/Video Foundation.

The project had its critics who thought that a film about a cancer patient "wouldn’t fly" because there was "no smoking gun." When they began shooting the film, Mckeown says, "There was no conclusive evidence showing a link between the environment and cancer. This information has moved into the mainstream now. [The film asks]’What is the larger story behind the personal story.’"

As a teenager, Fine had watched her mother endure a slow and painful death from uterine cancer. It was a traumatic time in her life and one of the poignant questions she asks in the film is about the recurrence of her illness and whether or not her own children, should she have any, will have to go through a similar trauma.

McKeown and Fine traveled to Long Island, New York, where Fine grew up, to investigate the alarming rate of breast cancer among women there. In touching sequences Fine visits her childhood home and her high school. She wonders aloud if something in this environment could have made her sick, and is it going to make future generations sick as well. They also meet women who have taken it upon themselves to track the incidence of the disease in their neighborhoods, and have become effective advocates for studies and research into the causes of the disease. "The film raises questions about what’s going on and how we can try to prevent this," says McKeown.

McKeown calls the editing process "tricky at times." She showed the film to Fine at different stages of editing and sometimes they had differences of opinion about the content. As the producer, McKeown says she needed to "strike a balance of wanting her [Fine] to feel good about the film but needing to be adamant about what was included in the film. We worked it out, but the creative collaboration was challenging."

McKeown’s film covers the dark days after the initial diagnosis, through the treatment process and finally to the point where Fine’s tumor has responded well to the chemo. McKeown says it’s "the vantage point of someone who’s gone through it and is able to get on with her life."

"All kinds of audiences respond to this film," she says. One particularly responsive audience was at a special screening held at Beth Israel/Deaconess Hospital in Boston during their annual "Celebration of Life." McKeown says 200-300 people saw the film that day and "about one-third of them spoke to us afterward to tell us how moving and how hopeful it was. It was very gratifying." Fine agrees, saying that for her this was "The best audience. This large group of cancer survivors totally related to different parts of it."

Fine feels that the film serves what she calls "The silent sorority of women who have the disease." She is satisfied that in sharing her ordeal she has helped and will help others through theirs. She has no regrets about her decision to work with McKeown and would do it again, although watching the film now is painful for Fine. "I’ve moved on, and now when I see it I have to confront the material over again."

"One In Eight: Janice’s Journey" is being distributed by Fanlight Productions of Boston. McKeown is also working in partnership with different foundations and organizations to do outreach and find new audiences for the film. She has planned a Boston area fundraiser and screening at the Coolidge Corner Theatre on Oct. 4th. (October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month). "We’re raising money to do a national tour and outreach campaign so the proceeds will fund that." Both McKeown and Fine will attend the event.

Now that it is completed, McKeown is dedicated to the film’s larger purpose. She wants to see it go out into the world and make a difference. "I do feel a sense of purpose, more than a sense of purpose, it’s an obligation. My responsibility is to try to share it as much as I can."

‘One In Eight: Janice’s Journey’ will be shown on Oct. 4th at 7pm. at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, MA, tickets are $25. The film will also be shown at the New England Film/Video Festival, Oct. 8-11th. For complete details visit www.oneineight.net.


'One In Eight: Janice’s Journey' will be shown on Oct. 4th at 7pm. at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, MA, tickets are $25. The film will also be shown at the New England Film/Video Festival, Oct. 8-11th. For complete details visit www.oneineight.net.

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