The above quotes are taken from reviews of the project on Decentralized Pictures, a nonprofit initiative supporting independent film co-founded by American Zoetrope and the Coppola family of filmmakers.
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Doug & Shelley Hensley are a happily married couple expecting their first child and they have a big day ahead of them.
Today they find out boy or girl at the same time a gender reveal party is being thrust onto them by their eccentric families.
As they parade in to bring chaos in celebrating the joyous occasion, Doug and Shelley just want to get out the door.
And when they finally do, they’ll hear six words that will change everyone’s lives forever.
As an only child, when my parents died 9 days apart when I was 22, I didn’t have much opportunity to settle into my grief before being thrust into adulthood.
It’s often said that “grief needs a witness,” but even after making a documentary about grieving my dad, I still thought of grief as something to grappled with internally. To be analyzed, examined… and tamed.
Grief might be the most unifying force in all humanity. Almost a decade after the stillbirth of our only child, am I finally approaching peace with a newfound strength to harness that power in her name.
To manifest beauty in this world, grief does needs a witness and the missing ingredient in my journey has been you this whole time, the audience.
Some might call Six Words a “proof-of-concept.” And maybe it is, the state of independent filmmaking these days practically requires it. But more importantly, it’s a story that desperately needs to be told.
For Shelby.
– Jason Charnick, writer/director