RECOGNITION

Developing premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

Won Grand Prizes at St Petersburg Message to Man Film Festival & Festival Mondial Du Cinema de Court Metrage in Belgium.

It won the best women’s short film award at the Cleveland International Film Festival

Developing was in competition at the Tampere Film Festival, Algarve International Film Festival, Cinequest, and Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Young People.

Developing aired on The Sundance Channel and Channel 13’s Reel New York.

SYNOPSIS

Clare and her teenage daughter, Nina, cope with the physical and emotional scars from Clare’s recent mastectomy. The film traces Clare’s journey from self-alienation to self-acceptance and from isolation to a renewed connection with her daughter.

DIRECTOR-WRITER

Marya Cohn

CAST

Frances Conroy, Natalie Portman, Jon Devries 

PRODUCER / ASSOCIATE PRODUCER

Margaret Hetherman,  Fraser Bresnahan

PLOT

“Developing” is the story of how Clare and Nina cope with the physical and emotional scars from Clare’s mastectomy. Clare is a photographer in her early forties who lives with her teenage daughter, Nina. For many years Nina has acted as her mother’s model, but she is reaching an age when she no longer wants to hold the poses her mother chooses for her.

After her mastectomy, Clare tries to pretend that she is “her old self” again - what she looks like with her prosthesis in. What she feels is fragmented, alienated from her body and unsure of her identity. Her relationship with her daughter is equally fragmented. The separation natural during adolescence is exacerbated by Clare’s need to deny her emotions.

Eventually, Clare’s repressed feelings compel her to use her camera to face her scar. When Clare allows herself to mourn her loss, she can begin to accept her new body and redefine her self from within. She is at the beginning of a new relationship with her self and her changing daughter.