More Beautiful For Having Been Broken

Multiple-Award winning filmmaker, Nicole Conn is world premiering her brand new film, “More Beautiful For Having Been Broken” at Frameline.The highly anticipated full length-feature will screen June 30th at the Castro.

“More Beautiful for Having Been Broken” is a story about three broken women whose lives intersect at a lakeside community and who are forever changed through their shared love of a boy with special needs.

The film pays homage to Conn’s daughter and in particular her son, Nicholas, who has special needs and is medically fragile. He was the focus of her 2005 film little man which earned Conn 12 Best Documentary Awards along with the prestigious Cedar Sinai’s Courageous Beginnings Award. “More Beautiful for Having Been Broken” is the breakout debut for 11 year-old Cale Ferrin who was diagnosed with Fanconi Anemia, a rare genetic disease that can lead to bone marrow failure and cancer and is often marked by congenital defects and short stature. 

It stars Australian actress, Zoe Ventoura (Packed to the Rafters), Kayla Radomski of “So You Think You Can Dance” fame, andFrench Stewart (3^rd Rock From the Sun).

A semi-autobiographical film that is very personal to Conn.Indeed, Conn’s journey with her son has been the most intensely spiritual and greatest life education she could ever have. With this film she wants to show the beauty that comes from the broken. 

In fact, It was her producer, Lissa Forehan, who told her about the Japanese term Kintsukuroi which means “more beautiful for having been broken” and inspired the title of the film.
Having had a seriously challenging 2015 with her son almost not making it out of the hospital twice and losing her sister completely broke Conn.And it wasn’t until she began to heal that she saw beauty in the smallest things.  Nicholas’s relentless medical needs made her understand the preciousness of now.

” I believe inclusion means ALL OF US. That’s why it was so imperative to cast an actor with Special Needs. I watch people all the time pretend like we’re not in the frame. Watch the averted eyes and just the ease with which they make our kids invisible. Our kids need to be seen. Heard. Laughed with and Learned from! And Loved. Trust me, the love you get back is beyond what you could ever dream. And this world needs a whole lot of that kind of love to deal with the tragedy our nation is immersed in today,” says Conn.
Joining the stellar cast are Bruce Davison, Brooke Elliott (Drop Dead Diva), Lesley Nicol, Kay Lenz, Wally Kurth and Gaby Christian. Gabrielle Baba-Conn (Conn’s real life daughter) is also making her feature debut.

Powerhouse Producer, Amber Geneva (Bellevue) and a group known as the “Silver Tribe” – eleven women from all over the world who are Conn’s dear friends and loyalists, are teaming up with the multiple award-winning filmmaker behind the scenes to bring this film to the international audience that it deserves.

A pioneering filmmaker, Nicole Conn is known not only for having paved the way for lesbian themed cinema with her cult classic, “Claire of the Moon”, but also for her acclaimed features Elena Undone (which boasts the longest screen kiss in cinema history) and A Perfect Ending. Her son Nicholas was also the focus of “little man” which earned Conn 12 Best Documentary Awards, along with the prestigious Cedar Sinai’s Courageous Beginnings Award.

For more info:  www.morebeautifulmovie.com

Frameline’s Castro Theater June 30th at 11:00am PST

Tickets available at: https://www.frameline.org/festival/film-guide/more-beautiful-for-having-been-broken