Woods Hole Film Festival - Family Rewritten
Despite battling Cystic Fibrosis, Camilla, age 16, identifies as a typical middle-class American teenager until the thread that holds her family together suddenly snaps. Just months before her 18th birthday Camilla finds herself in foster care, but instead of being ashamed, she makes a conscious decision to not let her situation define her.
Interview with Director & Producer Yasmin Mistry
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
After three years working with a developmentally-delayed child, I picked up my phone to hear a little voice saying, “Mama.” This was Ana’s first word and her foster mother had called me, her Court Appointed Special Advocate, to share the experience. As a CASA volunteer, I’ve spent years working with children, their families and the court system to help find kids a permanent home, good educational opportunities and needed medical and social services. As I heard Ana find her voice, I wondered how, and whether, other foster youth ever truly found theirs. So I decided to answer this question using the tools I knew best, animation and film, to give foster youth a chance to be heard.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
“Family Rewritten” is not just about a youth in foster care, it’s created with the help of foster youth themselves. These young adults worked behind the scenes as writers, camera operators, production assistants and producers; they helped make the film an authentic depiction of one young woman’s foster care experience. By supporting this documentary short film you’re giving these youth an opportunity to be heard.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
The film opens with foster youth, Camilla, saying “I didn't have to feel ashamed of my story. It doesn't change who I am and it doesn't define who I am.” Her resilience, coupled with the unending support she received from friends and her new foster family, allowed her to persist and to look beyond her current circumstances.
Over the years we’ve captured numerous stories from foster youth and these themes of strength and perseverance can be seen not just throughout Camilla’s story, but within the stories of all the youth who, due to no fault of their own, have gone through the child welfare system.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
We originally intended to make one short film with many foster youth voices. However, we got an overwhelming response. We expected interviews to last for 1 hour and some lasted as long as 9 hours! These current and former foster youth wanted their voices to be heard and their stories were too important to end up on the cutting room floor. Thus we decided to expand our project into a series. “Family Rewritten” is the third documentary short film in the series. You can learn more about our first two films in the series at the links below:
fostercarefilm.com/feelingwanted
fostercarefilm.com/myidentity
What type of feedback have you received so far?
“Family Rewritten” was just recently released on the film festival circuit so we’re just now beginning to receive feedback but so far the response has been phenomenal. The film won Best Documentary at the St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase last week.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
Prior to releasing the documentary on the film festival circuit we did a couple of preview screenings for the foster care community. The screenings sparked some incredible discussions about medical foster care. While the film touched on the fact that the young woman, Camilla, has Cystic Fibrosis, we did not discuss this in-depth so we’re really pleased to see that the film is also raising awareness forboth Cystic Fibrosis and medical foster care. Many people get scared away from fostering youth with medical needs, so hopefully this film will help dismantle some of the pre-conceived notions the general public has about youth with additional needs.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
By having our film visible on wearemovingstories.com we hope to increase awareness about foster care and generate interest for our film series as whole.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
The series, when complete, will consist of6 - 8 documentary short films and eventually culminate in a documentary feature film. Like most independent filmmakers, we’re looking for funders as well as volunteers who can help make our films a reality. Our current need is for animators and illustrators to help with production on our next film about child trafficking. We’re also looking for people who can help with outreach and distribution efforts for our completed films, as we’re currently self-distributing the series on the educational market through Kanopy Streaming and VHX. Anyone interested in lending their talents or resources can contact us at info@fostercarefilm.com
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
We hope the film changes the general public’s perceptions about teens in the foster care system and encourages people to mentor, foster, or adopt older youth and those with additional medical needs.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation aboutthis film?
A powerful statement made by the young woman in the film is just “because you're biologically made to have kids, it doesn't mean you have to. Not everyone is meant to be a parent.” This statement has really stood out to those who have seen “Family Rewritten” because it’s something many people believe to be true but are afraid to say. What are your thoughts? It’s time to open an honest dialogue about this subject.
Would you like to add anything else?
The hand-made mixed media collages seen throughout the film were created to depict the chaos and emotions of life in the child welfare system. Poetry and writing created by Camilla and another foster youth, Princess, are interwoven into these collages, using type astexture to give foster youth yet another way for their voices to be heard. Much of the content of the artwork was directly inspired by the poetry these young women submitted. For example we learned through Camilla’s writing that Cystic Fibrosis is referred to as “65 Roses” when talking to children about their condition. Thus when you see the rose imagery in the film it was directly inspired by Camilla’s own poem entitled “65 Roses.”
You can view more work by our talented lead artist, Mel Wherry, at http://www.melwherry.com/art and read some of the featured poetry by Princess at: https://diaryofabrokenlife.wordpress.com/
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
We’re currently in production on a new animated documentary short film entitled “For A Better Life.” It’s about a young boy who was sold out of Tunisia and his journey towards finding forgiveness for the birth family who sold him. We hope to release it in 2018.
Interview: July 2017
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
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Family Rewritten
Despite battling Cystic Fibrosis, Camilla, age 16, identifies as a typical middle-class American teenager until the thread that holds her family together suddenly snaps. Just months before her 18th birthday Camilla finds herself in foster care, but instead of being ashamed, she makes a conscious decision to not let her situation define her.
Length: 13 minutes
Director & Producer: Yasmin Mistry
Writer: Maxine Trump
YASMIN MISTRY, Director/Producer
Yasmin Mistry is an Emmy-nominated animator and filmmaker. Her work has been displayed worldwide including recent showings at the White House and United Nations as well as at film festivals such as Cannes, SXSW, Tribeca and Clermont-Ferrand. She is the recipient of the Puffin Foundation’s 2013 film grant, the Brooklyn Arts Council’s 2014 - 2017 film grants, and the winner of the Jessie Streich-Kest Memorial Grant. Her first live-action film, “Feeling Wanted” was an official selection of more than 30 film festivals. The film won 13 awards and was nominated for Best Short Film of 2015 by Adoption At The Movies.
MAXINE TRUMP, Editor/Writer
Maxine is a director, story producer, and co-owner of Hitman Productions. She directed the New York Times Critics' Pick feature documentary “Musicwood.” Prior to this she worked at the BBC in London.
Key cast: Camilla Tecsy
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists):
Funders, Grant Writers, Animators, Illustrators andDistributors
Social media handles:
Funders: Brooklyn Arts Council, Jessie Stretch-Kest Memorial Grant
Where can I see it in the next month?
Those interested in educational licensing can find it on VHX. Our next public screening for general audiences will be at the Golden Door Film Festival in Jersey City, New Jersey, just across the river from NYC. If you’re located in the area please stop by.