Experiencing Interruptions?

The Breast Archives

In this gently provocative documentary, nine remarkable women discuss their enduring relationship with their breasts, offering insight into the contexts and environments that influence the formation of the breast-psyche relationship.

  • Meagan Murphy
    Director
    Night Deposit, Victor's Big Score
  • Fernanda Rossi
    Writer
    The Pink Room, The Memory of Fish, Love Thy Nature
  • Miriam Cutler
    Composer
    Dark Money, Finding Kukan, Independent Lens, American Promise, The Hunting Ground
  • Jodi Silver
    Director of Photography
  • Pinehurst Pictures & Sound
    Sound
  • Esther Glovacki
    Sound
  • Francesco Passalaqua
    Sound
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    55 minutes 15 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    April 8, 2017
  • Production Budget:
    325,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Benefit for Planned Parenthood of New England
    Brattleboro
    United States
    February 18, 2018
  • Women's International Film Festival
    New York
    United States
    March 10, 2018
    Official Selection
  • Gateway City Arts
    Holyoke
    United States
    June 28, 2019
  • Benefit for Cancer Connection, Inc.
    Northampton, MA
    November 11, 2018
  • Academy of Music
    Northampton, MA
    United States
    September 17, 2017
    New England Premiere
  • Social Work Conference
    Springfield, MA
    United States
    May 23, 2018
  • Association for Women & Mythology
    Las Vegas, NV
    United States
    March 25, 2018
  • Women in Film & Video of New England
    Turner Falls, MA
    United States
    July 17, 2016
  • "Words & Breasts"
    Goshen, MA
    United States
    May 26, 2017
  • Moms & Teens Focus Group
    Brattleboro, VT
    April 7, 2018
  • VLOW - LifeStream and Sprenger Institute Screening
    Amsterdam
    Netherlands
    February 2, 2020
    European Premiere
Distribution Information
  • First Run Features
    Distributor
    Country: United States
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Meagan Murphy

Meagan Murphy is an award-winning Director/Producer with 25 years’ experience in film and broadcast. During her 12 years with WGBH Educational Foundation, she produced award-winning programs across a variety of genres, including documentary, public affairs and children’s programming. In 2008, she received The Communicator award, earned a Medical Journalism Fellowship from BC/BS, and was named a Top 10 Women’s Leader in 2016 by Women of Distinction Magazine. Meagan launched Deliberate Healing Productions LLC to create The Breast Archives, a film about women’s body-based wisdom.

The Breast Archives has been presented at festivals and conferences, including Women’s International and Northeast Naturist film festivals, the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology, and several social work conferences. Public screenings with panel discussions and fundraising presentations have been held at Gateway City Arts and Academy of Music, and fundraising events for Planned Parenthood and Cancer Connection.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I will never forget hearing a doctor say that "90% of women are unhappy with their breasts." This news coincided with a mammogram callback, and a dear friend's diagnosis of breast cancer.

I began to wonder if this troubled relationship with our own breasts could be linked to the high rates of breast cancer, and I became deeply concerned and afraid, both for myself, and for all women.

A few weeks later I traveled to Egypt to explore the many temples situated along the Nile. So many of the sites we visited were dedicated to female Goddesses – Isis, Hathor, Sekhmet – who for thousands of years were celebrated and honored. Often their likeness’ stood 200 feet high, chiseled into the walls of massive, monolithic structures. As I stood before these towering females, I couldn’t help but to notice their uncovered breasts; exposed and protruding in the blinding dessert sun. These women evoked a serene courage, and a deeply loving power.

Once I returned to the States, I began to wonder: "Where are the mythic female statues of our culture? Where are the breasts? What would women say if I asked them about their breasts? What had the earliest cultures known that we have forgotten?”

Driven by a passion for women's stories, a journalists curiosity, and my background in documentary filmmaking, I set out to create a unique project called, THE BREAST ARCHIVES. In a series of interviews designed to be gently provocative and emotionally driven, nine women were asked a series of questions about the presence of an timeless intelligence contained within the breasts. As the subjects shared their truths, they also reflected on their personal journeys of healing and awakening, their experiences of shame, sexual tension, anxiety about breast cancer, and the influence of media, religion, and culture on their self-worth and development