In the Family
2008, 83 minutes
In the Family is a documentary film about predicting breast and ovarian cancer, the consequences of knowing, and the women who live with the risk. Beginning with her story of testing positive for the familial breast cancer mutation (BRCA), Filmmaker Joanna Rudnick chronicles the lives of several women currently undergoing the process of genetic testing -- following them from their decision to seek testing, through the testing process, and in the aftermath when they are coming to terms with the information they receive. These stories of the first generation of women to live with the knowledge that they are predisposed to a life-threatening disease will teach us what it means to survive a diagnosis of high risk without being consumed or defined by it. They will help us to understand the psychological, legal, ethical, cultural and social complexities of genetic testing for a mutation, which affects the entire family, for which there is no cure, and wherein the only treatments currently available involve enormous quality-of-life sacrifices. Visit official site
Joanna Rudnick on a "the beginning of a new era" for high-risk women
August 31, 2010
In the Family director Joanna Rudnick is quoted in an Associated Press article today about a new study from the American Medical Association that indicates women at a high-risk of breast and ovarian cancer can benefit from ovary removal surgery.
In the article, Joanna call the findings the "the beginning of a new era" for high-risk women, and reveals her own future plans to have ovary removal surgery at the age of 40 after having children. Read the full article.
Click here to support Joanna's newest film, On Beauty.
- Producer
- Joanna Rudnick
- Director
- Joanna Rudnick
- Executive Producer
- Gordon Quinn
2008 Milan International Film Festival -- Official Selection
2008 Broadcast on P.O.V. on PBS
Silverdocs Film Festival
San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
Chesapeake Bay Film Festival
"The movie was fabulous. We all found it an accurate and profoundly moving experience. It was quite amazing to see such realistic and vivid depictions of the discussions we have with our patients every day up on the silver screen."
—Mark Greene, MD Chief, Clinical Genetics Branch, National Cancer Institute (NCI)





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