RIFF presents: "Ginger" on Friday, October 11 beginning at 5:00 pm at The Ridgefield Playhouse
Tickets to the festival are on sale now at www.riffct.org
The annual Ridgefield Independent Film Festival (RIFF) takes place in October, during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
In honor of breast cancer survivors, RIFF is proud to present Ginger, a comedy/drama based on the true story of a young woman, just out of college and trying to figure out “what’s next,” who at 23 years old, discovers a lump in her breast. Ginger’s struggle to stand up as an adult and find her footing only to be undercut by a devastating cancer diagnosis, will resonate with all audiences. There is a lot of unexpected humor in the film but the sobering truth remains that “Ginger” and other women like her—our mothers, daughters, sisters, and friends—will at some point face a breast cancer diagnosis. The statistics haven’t changed: still one in eight American women will get breast cancer.
The story of Ginger is based on co-writer / co-director Melissa Boratyn’s life. Boratyn and her husband Jimmy Boratyn, also a co-writer / co-director, are coming in from Chicago for the screening and will take part in what promises to be an enlightening are a post-screening Q&A.
“As a filmmaker, my life’s mission crystallized in the face of my life's greatest sorrow,” says Melissa. “My experience with the insidious cruelty of breast cancer, especially at such a
young age, provided me with two concrete goals: I planned to not only live to see my thirtieth birthday, but I decided to make a movie that captured all of the pain, suffering, humor, and all the love that comes along with this disease. Ginger is first and foremost for all people who have gone through and will go through the horrors of breast cancer diagnoses and treatment. If my story can help empower at least one person, then it will have been successful. My hope, however, is that Ginger will move any audience member with its message of hope.”
“We cannot wait to share this touching and surprisingly funny film with RIFF audiences,” says Festival Director Megan Smith-Harris. “I know they will be just as moved by Ginger’s story as our entire programming team was. Melissa was incredibly brave to lay bare her deeply personal story and we are so honored to have Ginger at the festival.”