Sugar Pictures - Documentaries:Breasts
Breasts: A Documentary
Twenty-two women talk about their most public private parts
Available on DVD from First Run Features
Directed by Meema Spadola
Produced by Thom Powers & Spadola
Breasts, an hour-long documentary, consists of interviews with twenty-two women - ages 6 to 84-years-old - discussing how breasts play a crucial role in the experiences of puberty, motherhood, sex, health, and aging. Interspersed throughout the documentary are segments of breast-related archival footage including a racy 1920s animated cartoon, a 1950s beauty pageant, and a 1970s bra commercial.
The participants, most of whom appear topless, represent a wide range of age, size, race and background. They include an 11-year-old on the verge of puberty; a breast-feeding mother; a 24-year-old with a breast reduction; a stripper with implants; two women with mastectomies; the self-proclaimed leader of the "Strong Breast Revolution"; a beautiful transsexual; a 49-year-old who is concerned about the safety of her silicone implants; a 420-pound comedienne; and two mother-daughter pairs. Their candid thoughts are humorous, moving, and often surprising.
Spadola found her subjects by distributing "breast questionnaires" throughout New York City in doctors' offices, youth centers, schools, strip clubs and elsewhere. Over two hundred women (and one man) responded. The interviews were filmed by an all-women crew.
Breasts, an independent production, was given finishing funds by Cinemax, which premiered the program in January, 1997. It is distributed internationally by Films Transit in Montreal. The documentary was awarded a Gold World Medal at the 1997 New York Festivals and a Director's Citation at the Black Maria Film Festival.
A Gold World Medal at the New York Festivals 1997
Director's Citation, Black Maria Video and Film Festival
Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality
A hilarious and equally poignant tribute to the cultural shape we're in.
- The Hollywood Reporter
Director Meema Spadola smartly examines all things mammarian, from the silly... to the deadly serious.
-Entertainment Weekly
Strikingly original.
- New York Daily News
This is a film that changes how you look at the world and yourself.
- Deborah Tannen, author of You Just Don't Understand
