Best of Fest Top Films - Palm Springs International Film Festival
Audience award - Best documentary - Australia Jewish International Film Festival
Audience Award Winner - San Diego Jewish Film Festival
New Filmmakers LA
World Premiere - DOC NYC 2024 - Top Ten Films Viewed
In the mid-60s, Janis Ian, a tiny teenage Jewish singer-songwriter from New Jersey scores a controversial hit single called "Society's Child," about an interracial love relationship. The song launches her illustrious career but also ignites death threats plunging her into an emotional tailspin--only to emerge from the ashes in the 1970s with an even bigger hit, "At Seventeen," ahead of its time in confronting lookism and bullying. Janis overcomes a host of obstacles-- embezzlement, record industry misogyny, and heartbreak--to find love and to produce an indelible body of searingly honest songs that earn her a devoted following and critical acclaim.
Janis Ian: Breaking Silence chronicles the remarkable journey of the Jewish singer-songwriter Janis Ian, beginning with her teen years when she was a precocious member of the vibrant Greenwich Village folk scene and jammed late at night with such legends as Jimi Hendix and Janis Joplin. In the mid-70s, she ascends to major stardom with such hits as "Stars," about the transient nature of fame (covered by Nina Simone and Cher) and "Jesse," the wistful lament of a lonely person waiting for their lover to return home (covered to great success by the R&B singer Roberta Flack and Folk icon Joan Baez). With her megahit "At Seventeen," her masterful take on adolescent pain and alienation, Ian cemented her place as a voice for outsiders everywhere. In the 1980s, beset by financial difficulties, Ian moved to Nashville and reinvented herself as primarily a songwriter, collaborating and falling in love with the great songwriter Kye Fleming, and becoming an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights.
She eventually returned to performing and continued to write songs that addressed difficult subjects, such as the Holocaust, the murder of Matthew Shepard, and gay marriage. In 2022, she released her final album and launched her bittersweet final tour which she was forced to cancel partway through due to vocal scarring. Ian's music continues to attract new fans, inspiring listeners with her disarmingly candid lyrics and unwavering resilience in the face of personal and professional challenges.
