Miscarried: An Unspoken Cartoonmentary | JFI Online Short: March 2025
This month’s online short is “Miscarried: An Unspoken Cartoonmentary” directed by Chari Pere.
Chari Pere, 2024, United States, 5 minutes, English
About the film: Based on the 2017 viral comic, Orthodox Jewish cartoonist Chari Pere adapts her harrowing miscarriage experience into her first animated short and directorial debut. Chari openly shares her story in the hopes of creating conversations in the Jewish community & beyond, and to make sure that nobody suffers alone.
Watch the film and read an interview with the director below.
Jewish Film Institute: Thank you for sharing your story with us. Can you tell us how you got started as an illustrator?”
Chari Pere: Thank you for featuring my “Miscarried” video. It’s a huge honor to have my work featured as JFI’s Online Short of the Month!
I’ve been drawing since I was a year old. At the age of five, I was tested to enter a top private Jewish school, and my parents were informed that I tested off the charts on the visual test and needed to be receiving art lessons. So I started getting art classes at six, going to art camp instead of Jewish summer camp. During my twelve years of yeshiva education, I drew at every opportunity, from comic strips in the school paper to t-shirts to becoming art editor of 7 school publications. I then attended the School of Visual Arts, where I received a BFA in Cartooning and graduated as class valedictorian. I’ve been working professionally ever since.
JFI: At what point did you decide you needed to tell your miscarriage story? Did you always intend to use film as the medium in which to express it?
CP: I’ve always tried to use my cartoon storytelling “powers” for good. My first paid job in college was to create a coloring book for children with Diabetes. After that, I created a graphic novel for kids about bully prevention, and collaborated on a comic with author Gretchen Rubin to promote her #1 NY Times bestselling book The Happiness Project. In 2009, I was commissioned to create a three-page web comic sharing one woman’s incredible 10-year experience as an agunah, a woman trapped in a marriage by a husband who refused to grant her a gett (Jewish divorce document). The comic went viral, and raised awareness about an issue that many had no idea even existed.
“I’ve always tried to use my cartoon storytelling “powers” for good.”
When I experienced my miscarriage in 2014, I was horrified to discover how common miscarriages were and that there were no resources or stories shared to help me feel less alone. I knew immediately that I had to share my story to help others, but it took me a couple of years to feel ready. I chose to release my story in May 2017, 3 years to the date of my miscarriage. Actress Mayim Bialik helped me launch the comic, which ended up being the first of several comics in my “UNSPOKEN” series about different people’s challenges related to reproductive health.
I’d always had the dream to turn my comic into an animated short in order to reach a new audience and make a bigger impact. When I launched my first comic, I didn’t have much animation experience other than storyboarding work for commercials, but since my comic’s release I’ve had 5+ years in advertising and marketing for clients such as Red Bull, Disney, FIFA, and more helped me gain the experience I needed to produce my own cartoons. Then, I received the 2024 Jewish Writers’ Initiative Digital Storytellers Lab fellowship. This opportunity gave me the means to make my vision come true. “Miscarried” is the first of four shorts that I released in the series, and I’m immensely proud of it.
JFI: What has the response been to this film so far?
CP: I launched “Miscarried” in May 2024, just in time for Mother’s Day. The response was overwhelmingly positive; it was featured on CNN, Newsweek, Daily Blast Live, The Jewish Journal, Jew In The City, and more. The film was featured in and has won many awards in the film festival circuit and also led to the huge honor of receiving the 2024 JewCE Artist of the Year award. I continue to get messages from women and men all over the world who have been impacted by this film, and I’m grateful that I was able to turn my traumatic experience into something positive and healing to help those who truly need it.
JFI: What else are you working on?
CP: Last year, I had turned the second comic in my “UNSPOKEN” series, “Michael’s Miscarriage” (about a husband’s experience during a miscarriage), into an award-winning animated short. I recently wrapped production on my third animated short, “DETERMINATION”, about a woman’s nightmare decision on whether to abort one of her dream IVF twin fetuses to save the other. I just started production on my fourth and final video in the series, “The Diagnosis”, about how a mother copes with her baby’s Down syndrome diagnosis.
“I’m grateful that I was able to turn my traumatic experience into something positive and healing to help those who truly need it.”
Both films will be released later this year. I hope to continue telling more stories and tackling new topics, of which there are, unfortunately, too many. But I hope that by sharing more stories, we can heal ourselves by helping others.
You can stay up to date with the “UNSPOKEN” series and check out the existing comics and videos at www.charipere.com/unspokencartoons, and subscribe to the YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@UnspokenCartoonmentary.
About the Filmmaker: Chari Pere has worked as a creative director and illustrator/storyboard artist on projects for Red Bull, Jockey, Disney, Comedy Central, and Bud Light. She has created content for The Washington Post’s The Lily and Mad Magazine, and has collaborated with NYT bestselling author Gretchen Rubin and actress Mayim Bialik. Chari launched the “Unspoken” Cartoon series as part of the 2024 Jewish Writers’ Initiative Digital Storytellers Lab Fellowship and was named the 2024 JewCE Artist of the Year.
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.
