CANCER: A LOVE STORY
an autobiographical documentary by Christen Clifford.
LOGLINE
CancerLove is the survival story of a woman -me- who fights cancer and survives. It’s also a love story – raw, funny, weird, honest, personal, provocative – when the film explores women's bodies, healing, magic mushrooms, motherhood, polyamory, gender dynamics, trans rights, patriarchy, rape culture, vulvic space, art, and what it truly takes to accept myself and love others in a world that still treats women like shit.
THEMES and STAKES
#timesup #metoo #fuckcancer #notsurprised #inclusionrider #womensbodies
The lives of women in the US, feminism, cancer, sexuality, sex, power, vulvas, vaginas, intersectional feminist art, motherhood, parenting, marriage, open marriage, polyamory, gender, beauty, femininity, identity, intimacy, friendship, medical marijuana, magic mushrooms, alcoholism, rape, rape culture, art and healing . All shown through the lens of a cancer diagnosis and treatment, post treatment and healing from 2016-2018.
PROJECT STATUS
Researching since 2016. In 2017, I financed a few days of shooting interviews. In 2018, we were chosen to be part of the IFP Doc Lab. In 2019 we did some more shooting and were accepted into Women Make Movies Production Assistance Program.
In 2022, I am hoping to fundraise for an assistant and full time editor to help organize footage. I would still love to do a few days of shooting in Buffalo/Canada (interviews and B-roll exteriors).
PROJECT SUMMARY
In March 2016– in the midst of the political sideshow that has transformed our culture– I was diagnosed with ovarian and uterine cancers.
I’m an artist. I documented everything.
From the uterine biopsy to the anal exams. From wig shopping to the first orgasm post hysterectomy. At one point, I thought it was a good idea to make what I called “My Cancer Porn!” so I hired an actor to pretend to fuck me and pull out my hair.
Did I mention that I have two kids?
And a husband? Actually, she was a gender non-conforming partner at the time, who is now a trans woman.
After cancer, I stopped drinking. I had to really face the rape at 15, the silencing, the audio tape that I still have of the attacker’s friends mocking me and threatening me. The boyfriend who later assaulted me. The teacher.
I want to know: What stories do we tell ourselves to heal? Does it matter if they're true? What does it mean to be a woman? What is gender? What is collective trauma? What changes as society learns the truth about patriarchy, rape, sexual assault, and harassment? How do bodies hold trauma? Why do we get cancer? What is poison? What is a good mother? What is a good daughter? Why is the body censored? How can we heal and love ourselves?
It’s a story of women’s bodies in the United States, told through my body.
I hope it’s provocative, raw, and funny. Authentic, personal, and moving.
I hope it shows that our darkest moments can be the most illuminating. And that healing is possible.
CREATIVE TEAM
DIRECTOR
CHRISTEN CLIFFORD is a feminist performance artist, writer, curator, professor, actor, and mother. She was an IFP Screen Forward Documentary Fellow, a Feminist-in-Residence at Project for Empty Space, the co-chair of the 2019 National Symposium for The Feminist Art Project, and is on the faculty of The New School. Her performance art work has been shown at The New Museum, AUNTSisdance, Eva Presenhuber, Project for Empty Space, Bolivar Gallery, The Culture Project, PS 122, Postmasters Gallery, LACE, ArtShareLA, EFA Project Space, and abroad. Her essay about gender and aging, “Mother, Daughter, Moustache,” was in the NYT bestselling anthology Women In Clothes (2014), Bookforum called it “a standout essay”, and Molly Ringwald read it on national radio for Selected Shorts. Clifford is a core member of No Wave Performance Task Force and was the lead artist on “We Wish Ana Mendieta Was Still Alive,” a Feminist Public Action that Hyperallergic called one of the “Best Art and Activism” performances of 2014. Dazed wrote, “Christen Clifford leads a new wave of feminist performance art steeped in the politics of menstruation.”
Clifford was a main stage storyteller at The Moth. She has worked as an editor at AOL, a mentor and volunteer for Girls Write Now, and as a full-time mom. She is the recipient of fellowships and residencies from the ACE Hotel, NYFA, NYSCA, Creative Catalyst, the NonFiction award from The New School MFA Creative Writing Program, and Best of Fringe Awards at The SFFF and the Audience Award from the NYFF. She created the PussyBow, a Feminist Public Action disguised as a fashion accessory, and The New York Times /Women In The World wrote "In addition to celebrating the beauty of her vaginal mucus, Clifford's PussyBow is intended to serve as a call to arms at a time when women's reproductive rights are increasingly under attack." Twitter and IG @cd_clifford and more at christenclifford.info
Christendianeclifford@gmail.com
347 228 6508
CO-PRODUCER
WILL SWEENEY co-wrote and produced the award-winning HBO documentary film “Back on Board: Greg Louganis” and he was a producer on “The Royal Tenenbaums” and has worked on dozens of major motion pictures including Rounders, Cider House Rules, and The Squid and the Whale. Prior to co-founding BB Optics, Inc in 2015, Will ran the New York division of Colorlab Film Corp, a leading film preservation and digital post-production facility, for twelve years. Will graduated from the New York University – Tisch School of the Arts with a degree in Film & Television production.
willsweeney@gmail.com
917 209 0101