“Cancer changed our relationship.”
-Deborah Spitalnik
Role: Director, Producer
Patient stories are tough. From a storytelling perspective, they are the ideal story arc—trauma and recovery. But that also means it’s easy to veer into sentimentality. In the wrong hands, tears will feel cheaply earned, or worse, they will feel manipulative to the audience. It’s easy to bring the wrong values to the table. It’s important for them to be human stories, told with the breadth and reverence of real human beings, not marketing goals.
Fortunately, my friends at Penn Medicine get this on all levels. They approached me with an amazing story—documenting a mother and daughter, both breast cancer survivors, as they participated in a fashion show during New York Fashion Week.
From the minute I came on board, I knew this would be something special. First, Molly and Deborah are wonderful, special humans. But they are also open, emotionally intelligent, and articulate. Traits that endear you to an audience.
Second, Penn gave me a lot of freedom to capture this as I saw fit. So I approached it verité-style—I eschewed traditional sit down interviews in favor of in the moment conversations. And I let the events play out in real time. My only goal was to be with with Molly and Deborah as they went through this. To honor their process, and to work with them to create something honest and real. I hope you find the tears are earned.
Production Team
Director & Producer — Peter English
Director of Photography — Bryant Fisher
AC — Bryana Newton
B-Cam — Rebecca Abboud
Field Audio — Mielle Ezra
PA — Tyler Thornton, Alex Preto
Color — Dave Bauer
Mix — Calvin Pia
Graphics — Kelly Peterson
Shot on location in New York, NY