I’m Not Done (Film)
Synopsis: Set to Fever Ray's "I'm Not Done", this film and dance project is a visual translation of ongoing performance research about life-threatening illness. The project stems from curiosity about the ways disease and distress actually shift at the cellular level through instrumental and emotional social support for persons facing illness; in this case, cancer and severe depression are in focus.
In developmental workshops and a public filming/performance event, persons experiencing life-threatening cancer, depression, and those who care for them--including artists in dance, theater, and visual mediums as well as community members--joined to explore patient advocacy, experimenting at the nexus of invitational performance and cultural and generational memory.
"I'm Not Done" is a collaboration between community participants (patients, family caregivers, healthcare professionals, and artists), It Is In You (PhD candidate Marie Garlock), and Hueism Pictures (Director/DP Andrew Synowiez).
Background: Research is promising about the science behind persons doing better (clinically) as they contribute to and support one another (socially); as they face the unknown with hope for healing; and as patients and families and friends reject the dual monsters of denial (false hope) and false hopelessness. When we challenge the "medicalized" or "corporatized" status quo of cancer response, when we re-frame cultures of memory and collaborative possibility surrounding otherwise isolating experiences with illness and depression, where do we end up instead?
Directors:
Director/DP: Andrew Synowiez
Producer/AD: Marie Garlock
Gaffers: Alex Maness, Maria Brubeck
Editors: Rachel Cotterman, Andrew Synowiez
Art Direction: Mona Xiao, Leah Wilks, Stacey Kirby
Still Photographers: Jon Gardiner, Maria Brubeck, Kim Walker
Dancers: Rachel Ash, Rachel Cotterman, Annie Dwyer, Marie Garlock, Kaitlin Houlditch-Fair, Cornelia Kip Lee, Doris Ann Price, Graciela Seila, Dani Strauss, Dorinda Thomas, Leah Wilks
Participants: Barbara Garlock, Deo Garlock, Thaddeus Allen Edwards, Maria Brubeck, Graciela Seila, Dorinda Thomas (all featured); and Mike Anderson, Yvonne Boston, John Cotterman, Danny Cowan, Renee Alexander Craft, Lisa Decker, Beth Dehghan, Hunter Garlock, Sanyu Gichie, Rev. Stacy Grove, Rev. Gloria Winston Holloway, Dr. Jules Odendahl-James, Carolyn Lane, John Lane, Jenny Maness, Olufunke Moses, Dr. Alphonse Mutima, Cang Nguyen, Pearl Nguyen, Alphonse Nicholson, Paul Salem, Paulina Seila, Rob Stephens, Jesse Wilder, Hope Wilder, Vaji Yegani, Shin-Yiing Yeung, PT (all in circle)
Partners: Duke University Performing Science, UNC-CH Communication, St. Francis UMC, Cancer Centers of North Carolina