Tuesday, Wednesday, January 16, 17, 4pm
Teatro Santa Ana, Relox 50A
$100

States of Grace, Reel Docs - mixed

On Tuesday and Wednesday, January 16 and 17 at 4:00pm in the Biblioteca’s Teatro Santa Ana, REEL DOCS will present States of Grace, an acclaimed documentary by the husband-and-wife filmmaking team, Mark Lipman and Helen S. Cohen. There will be a Q&A and margarita reception with the filmmakers following each screening.

Teatro Santa Ana is located at Reloj 50A. Tickets are 100 pesos, with proceeds from the screenings donated to support children’s programming at the library.

TRAILER

Winner of multiple film festival audience awards, States of Grace intimately captures the profound transformation of a revered physician and her family in the wake of a life-changing accident. For Dr. Grace Dammann, a pioneering AIDS specialist who was honored by the Dalai Lama, a routine commute across the Golden Gate Bridge turned tragic when another driver crashed head on into her car. After seven weeks in a coma and a dozen surgeries, Grace miraculously awakened with her cognitive abilities intact, though her body was left shattered. States of Grace follows her return home to the Buddhist community where she and her partner Nancy “Fu” Schroeder live with their teenage daughter Sabrina, who was born with cerebral palsy. With dry humor and brave candor, the three of them slowly recalibrate their lives together and apart. The San Francisco Chronicle calls the film “brave [and] refreshingly unsentimental” and audiences across the country have been moved by this inspiring story of perseverance and resilience.

Since 2004, award-winning directors/producers Mark Lipman and Helen S. Cohen have been creating documentary projects together under their Open Studio Productions banner. Lipman has worked as a documentary filmmaker for thirty years, exploring a wide range of subjects from domestic violence to human sexuality to affordable housing and community organizing. His films have been broadcast nationally on public television. Cohen brings to documentary filmmaking a long and diverse history of activism and professional work with cultural, educational and community development organizations. She is a long-standing member of New Day Films, a national cooperative of independent filmmakers who self-distribute social issue documentaries.

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