BROKEN/FIXED | JFI Online Short: April 2023
The Jewish Film Institute is pleased to present BROKEN/FIXED as our Online Short of the Month for the month of April, 2023.
About the Film: BROKEN/FIXED centers around a conversation with director Joanne Feinberg’s 83 year-old mother and 17 year-old daughter about their complicated and complex relationship with their Jewish noses.
Jewish Film Institute: Tell us about the genesis of this film?
Joanne Feinberg: I was commissioned to make a film about legacy by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Living Ideas Art and Community Dialogue Series and BROKEN/FIXED was the result. I am so grateful for the opportunity to make this film with my mother and daughter. It was very powerful and moving for all of us, and time together that I will treasure.
JFI: What was your biggest challenge making the film?
JF: My mom and daughter were not comfortable doing an on-camera interview for the film. When I was doing “research” for the project I recorded a two-hour conversation we had. This became the narrative structure for the doc, and I love the intimacy of it.
JFI: Is there anything else that you would like the JFI audience to know?
I was inspired by the filmmaker Marlon Riggs, his 1989 documentary TONGUES UNTIED, and his poem:
“I was blind to my brother’s beauty,
And now I see my own.
Deaf to the voice that we were worth wanting, loving each other. Now I hear.
I was mute, tongue-tied, burdened by shadows and silence. Now I speak,
And my burden is lightened, lifted, free.”
About the Filmmaker: Joanne Feinberg is an award-winning filmmaker, producer, and curator, notably as the former Director of Programming at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival and the Ashland Independent Film Festival. She has also programmed for DocLands, the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, Mountainfilm and BendFilm and serves on many juries and selection committees including the Cinema Eye Honors. She brings over 25 years of film production experience, and thousands of hours of thoughtful film viewing, to her work. Joanne graduated with honors from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with a combined degree in Cinema Studies and Film & TV Production. Her associate producing credits include the Ross Brothers current untitled work-in-progress (2023) and Jill Orschel’s Snowland (2023). A deep love and understanding of cinema informs all of her endeavors.
About JFI Online Shorts: JFI Online Shorts features one new short film each month from emerging and established filmmakers. Since 2009, JFI has showcased over 100 online shorts and garnered worldwide views over 2 million on the JFI Youtube channel. Learn more at www.jfi.org.
