As Sara navigates the stress of her flight being delayed multiple times, a missed call from an unknown number sends her spiralling into distress. Taking refuge in a bar, an unlikely stranger becomes the confessional she didn’t know she needed and the support to tackle her diagnosis.
Director’s Vision for ‘Sara’
Inspired by a moment in my life and personal health journey, SARA is a glimpse into a moment where I struggled to cope in a public place — the airport. My flight was delayed repeatedly. My Mom had just had a second stroke, I had had three surgeries by this point, and I would be having my fourth within a few months. My life was in limbo in every way. You know, when you wake up on a gorgeous balmy autumn morning, you snuggle with your dog and feel thankful that your career is taking flight but also for that long-awaited break. You’re excited to have not just a slow-moving morning but the day. You slow-sip that delicious coffee, feel the sun beaming in and decide it’s time to put your ass in the shower stat. The warm water feels terrific; you think perhaps it’s time to make that trip to Bali (Yass Queen, you deserve a vacay moment!), just as your hand glides over what is clearly a lump in your left breast. Shock. You feel again. It’s still there. The panic and total fear set in. You’re not a 1 in 8; you can’t be? Breast cancer doesn’t run in your family. The denial settles in, and you wait for eight months to make that appointment with your doctor. Once you do, a week later, you find yourself at a Cancer hospital being fast-tracked over the next three weeks to a diagnosis. This is my story; more importantly, it’s the story of many alike.
When my flight was delayed again, my inner world came crashing down. I felt like I couldn’t possibly handle one more thing. The irony of being grounded, yet I couldn’t find the ground. I was burnt out. I thought I had more time, and now I felt the race against time and possibly my life. Then a stranger’s unexpected kindness changed my perspective from hopeless to hopeful. Breast cancer, not to mention women’s health and wellness, no longer lives within a specific age paradigm. These statistics are both factual and personal. The importance and urgency of telling this story ignites from wanting to curate a sense of empathy around the perception of emotional/mental wellness and the process of shame, grief, and trauma.
This is where and how we experience a moment of SARA’s life—trying to keep it all together because that is what SARA has had to do. But how her inner world comes crashing down in this very human, relatable moment. In an airport. Full of people from all walks of life. As a writer once said, ‘Airports have become, for me, as churches used to be, places to contemplate the shortcomings of one’s life and soul.’
As a storyteller, I think this story’s universality is wanting to shift the lens from focusing solely on “the happening, the event” to investigating how trauma imprints itself on one’s soul and the undeniable truth of the profound correlation between unresolved trauma and illness. To quote Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D., “The Body Keeps Score.”
As the world broke open with grief during the pandemic, people arrived at the realization that they were/are at capacity. Yet, so many communities do not have the resources to fully understand the impacted feeling of loss of self, the mosaicked mind, the flashbacks, and the nightmares- to name a few. It’s important to me to continue the investigation of societal expectations and judgments around compassion for the imperfect human journey. Because unless we can truly stand in ourselves with pure love and wholeness, many of us are lost.
At forty-five years old, recently diagnosed with Complex PTSD, I am just learning that grief and joy can co-exist alongside one another, as can trauma and the possibility of living a wonderfully full life. My intention is to provide hope and a realization to others that they are worthy and deserving of that too.
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