Menopause is a taboo topic that has a huge effect on the lives of half of humanity. One billion women worldwide are in perimenopause or menopause right now, many of whom experience symptoms that can cause distress and have disastrous effects on their jobs, families, sense of self, and life span.
(Please scroll to find out more.)
There are many unanswered questions about the basic biology of menopause and menopause symptoms, as well as the risks and side effects of common menopause treatments. Like many other aspects of women’s health, menopause research is dramatically underfunded - at less than one dollar to every ten dollars - compared to conditions primarily or exclusively affecting men. And there is a dearth of treatment options, particularly for uninsured women and women living in the global south.
In many parts of the world, including the USA, most medical students and gynecologists receive no training or education in menopause. Many physicians are ill-equipped to address the needs of their women patients over 40. The situation is also dire for one out of three American women who experience ‘surgical’ menopause at even earlier ages because of the removal of their ovaries or uterus, and may have particularly disruptive symptoms, the management of which can have long term effects on their health since earlier menopause is associated with decreasing bone and cardiovascular health.
Our film explores how menopause is a culturally mediated phenomenon while also highlighting critical areas in need of research as well as additional treatment options, including hormonal and non-hormonal pharmaceutical options, while also expanding scalable interventions for the vast majority of women for whom hormone therapy is not accessible.
Our film shares stories of women going through all stages of menopause while delving into the latest evidence-based research, identifying challenges we share as well as important differences in our experiences, with the goal of empowerment through knowledge and re-envisioning menopause as a celebratory era of sisterhood, freedom, and expanded possibilities.
THE CREW
Sarah Schenck
DIRECTOR / PRODUCER
Sarah’s mission in life is to enhance our scientific literacy, especially about our bodies. She is devoted to advancing public health goals through film and video and most recently produced and co-directed The Invisible Extinction, about the critical role of microbes in human health.
Sarah makes short videos for nonprofits including Amnesty International, the Park Slope Food Coop, the NYC public schools, and the Supportive Housing Network of NY, where she served many years as Chief Digital Officer. She also worked for the New York Times in Rio and was the Senior Policy Advisor for Education in the NYC Comptroller’s Office, during which time she taught herself filmmaking. She was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Feature Film Under $500,000 for producing “Virgin,” starring Elisabeth Moss and Robin Wright.
Sarah’s passion for making media that makes people’s lives better finds expression in her occasional op-eds, most recently for the New York Times on safeguarding our microbes and the NY Daily News on human organ donation, as well as in Parent Earth, a website she co-founded in 2009 to increase access to healthy food nationwide, and for which she wrote, directed, and produced hundreds of original short videos in English and Spanish. For the PBS weekly news program “Need To Know,” Sarah was producer/director and on-air correspondent for “Saving Carla,” an acclaimed episode that focused on childhood obesity in the Bronx.
Sarah received her BA from Bryn Mawr College, where she was later a Hepburn Fellow in Film & Media, and her MA from Stanford University. She taught a long-running meditation class for adults with mental health challenges at St. Francis Friends of the Poor and continues to share mindfulness practice with diverse communities. Sarah runs the WordSprouts reading series for the Park Slope Food Coop. She lives in Brooklyn with her family.
Mai Iskander
CINEMATOGRAPHER
Mai Iskander brings an authentic, positive, inclusive voice to the stories she directs, particularly those about women and people of color. Her heartfelt, cinematic world view immerses audiences in important social and cultural narratives.
Mai’s feature documentary, Garbage Dreams, garnered 26 international awards, as well as a DGA Best Documentary nomination, and was shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Documentary. Her documentary, Words of Witness, funded by the MacArthur Foundation and the Sundance Institute, premiered at the Berlinale and the Los Angeles Film Festival.
Mai’s cinematography has what the Los Angeles Times calls a “you-are-there vitality,” and has been profiled in ARRI’s centennial website and companion book 100 Years of Arri. Her innate empathetic approach and visual signature led to a successful foray into commercial direction for clients that include Apple, Liberty Mutual, Kate Spade, and Whirlpool. Mai’s “Care Counts” campaign for Whirlpool was awarded the Grand Prix, a Gold Lion, and two Bronze Lions at the Cannes Festival. The campaign also won the AICP Next Cause Marketing award, a D&AD Impact Awards White Pencil, a Gold and Silver Pencil at the One Show, and two Silver Effies.
Mai credits her unique, multidimensional worldview to her upbringing by her Czech mother and Egyptian father. Finding common ground between those diverse cultural influences, amid her background in the United States, informs who she is as both a woman and a filmmaker. A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Mai began her career in features and TV as a camera assistant to famed directors Alfonso Cuarón, Penny Marshall, Carl Franklin, and Barry Sonnenfeld, among others.
Russell Greene
EDITOR
Russell Greene’s more than 20 edited films have appeared in top US and international festivals including Sundance, Venice, Telluride, New York, SXSW, Toronto, Tribeca, IDFA, and Full Frame, aired on national television (HBO, PBS, Netflix, Hulu, CNN) and screened in theaters worldwide.
The average rottentomatoes.com score for his films as lead editor is 96%. His past collaborators include directors Sam Pollard, Amy Berg, Fisher Stevens, Nina Rosenblum and Daniel Allentuck, Catherine Gund, Lonny Price, Anne Makepeace, Jim Solomon, Kim Snyder, Sophie Huber, Blair Foster, Garret Bradley and Zach Heinzerling.
Feature film credits as Editor include: Forever Endeavor, South To Black Power, The Invisible Extinction (Also as Producer), The Automat (Also as Producer; Four Critics’ Choice Awards Nominations), Take Your Pills 2, Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes, And We Go Green, Harold Prince: The Director’s Life, Blue Note Records: Beyond The Notes, The Witness (Also as Writer; Emmy and Critics’ Choice Award nominee; Academy Award Shortlist), Tribal Justice, Famous Nathan, Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction, Ordinary Miracles: The Photo League’s New York, and A Fine Line.
Timea Dancs
DESIGNER
With over 15 years of experience in the creative field, Timea specializes in assisting organizations in bringing their mission and offerings to life via conceptually creative brand experiences across multichannel marketing communications and international borders. What drives her passion even further is when the outcome of her services are mindful of the well-being of people and the beauty of our planet. For additional details, please visit www.timeadancs.com.