Private Project

Assembly Line of Broken Hearts

Using projection as an emotional storytelling technique this experimental short film explores themes of inequality.

  • JC Farris
    Director
  • Dana Rochelle
    Key Cast
  • Mari DeOleo
    Key Cast
  • Katelyn Lane
    Key Cast
  • Maria Stephens
    Key Cast
  • David M. Baker
    Editor
  • Matthew Mickelsen
    Composer
  • David Holcombe
    Director of Photography
  • JC Farris
    Producer
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    Experimental, Drama
  • Runtime:
    7 minutes 2 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 4, 2021
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Des Moines Underground Film Festival
  • Dayton Independent Film Festival
  • Shortcut 100 International Film Festival
Director Biography - JC Farris

JC Farris is a Chicago-based filmmaker. She has been the producer, writer, and/or director of over 20 short films and produced the indie feature film Ghostwriter. She has worked at many arts organizations and festivals, participated in the Stowe Story Labs’ Producers Lab, the Chicago Independent Producers Lab, is a company member of Soft Cage Films, is a reader/analyst for screenplay competitions, and a screener for film festivals. jcfarrisfilm.com.

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Director Statement

This film seeks to induce a sense of uneasiness in its audience by playing with techniques to create an isolating and solitary feel. The core structure of the film represents an emotional arc for the stages of discrimination. It uses projection filling every inch of the actor’s body and background, enveloping the space with a suffocating atmosphere. Another element is a womxn’s body being touched by hands to offer observations about consent. All of these types of techniques are about having the viewer feel a specific emotion and, at times, perhaps not completely understand why. That is where my obsession lies. It does not try to offer a linear story that unfolds in the space of the mainstream narrative, yet makes a conscious effort to use the materials of cinema in a way that calls attention to the medium with the camera being the ever-present silent narrator and at some points the perpetrator or accomplice.

As filmmakers, holding up that mirror to the broken pieces of our society is an essential element to what we do. I am interested in creating art that sparks an emotional reaction and that generates a dialogue after the final frame. With experimental film, we have the freedom to play with techniques to create those emotions that leave interpretation open to the audience, which is something I welcome and enjoy.