Private Project

Lady Bountiful

Lady Bountiful is a look inside the world of 85 year old artist Joan Von Briesen. A mother, painter and 'the originator of recycling,' Joanie has lived in her victorian house in Cole Valley, San Francisco for almost fifty years. Through conversations with Joanie, her sister, and long term house guests, we learn about her unusual gifts and attitudes towards life as she faces cancer and death in mysterious, delightful, and civic minded ways.

  • Ethan Goldwater
    Director
    Last Waterman of Wittman
  • Ethan Goldwater
    Producer
    Last Waterman of Wittman
  • Joan Von Briesen
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    20 minutes 32 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    February 3, 2017
  • Production Budget:
    50,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital 4K
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • SF IndieFest
    San Francisco
    United States
    February 12, 2017
    North American Premiere
Distribution Information
  • None as of yet.
Director Biography - Ethan Goldwater

Director Ethan Goldwater was raised in a big family by social workers who showed him what it means to get involved in the lives of others. His work as a filmmaker builds on his prior careers as a journalist in San Francisco, and public school teacher in NYC. In April 2004, while writing for the San Francisco Bay Guardian weekly, he wrote a cover story on the establishment of medical marijuana, deepening his fascination with the study of plant medicine and connecting him deeply with Bay Area ecology. In 2014 he founded Hover Pictures, a production company dedicated to bringing explorative documentary and narrative films to life. His short film The Last Waterman of Wittman was Vimeo Staff Picked, featured on Short of the Week, and played at Camden, Maryland FF, and Cambridge FF in 2012. He produced The Long Road Home, a TV-special documentary funded by Shell Rotella about double amputee tractor puller Larry Koester, healing after losing his legs with his family and his ascendance in the world of motor-sports. His recent short film Lady Bountiful premiered to sold out audiences at the San Francisco Indie Fest. He is currently finishing his first feature film, Curandera, an evocative soul portrait of a Latina mother on her path to heal three generations of family trauma using sacred ritual and visionary plant medicine.

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