Unrest

Unrest (2017)

When Harvard PhD student Jennifer Brea is struck down at 28 by a fever that leaves her bedridden, doctors tell her it’s "all in her head." Determined to live, she sets out on a virtual journey to document her story—and four other families' stories—fighting a disease medicine forgot.

Date of release
2017-10-20
TMDB
6.9 / 10 (53)
Runtime
1h 37m
Genres
Documentary
Director
Jennifer Brea

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Awards: 1 · Nominations: 0. Including: Sundance Special Jury Prize Documentary

Unrest is a 2017 documentary film produced and directed by Jennifer Brea. The film tells the story of how Jennifer and her new husband faced an illness that struck Jennifer just before they married. Initially dismissed by doctors, she starts filming herself to document her illness and connects with others who are home- or bedbound with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).

Production

The production of Unrest began when Brea picked up the camera to film her symptoms because she was being dismissed by doctors in the spring of 2012. Initially, she had wanted to possibly write a book using her videos as a source, but when she noticed doctors started believing her after seeing her recordings, she decided that the story would be better told visually.

The whole production process took four years. Brea spent the first year working out "how to make a film from bed" and raising money, then 1.5 years filming, and spent the remaining time editing. Brea used a Skype teleprompter to conduct interviews, and eventually found a way to stream an on-set camera to her computer. Gradually, she built a global team.

Unrest, initially named Canary in a Coal Mine, got its first round of funding from a 2013 Kickstarter campaign. Further funding came from various grants and fellowships. Impact Partners invested in the documentary during post-production. The overall production budget reached high six-figures over four years and was financed by a mix of crowdfunding and grants (70%), equity (20%), with 10% unaccounted for when the documentary was released.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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