Welcome to the JENNIFER, 42 community!

David Magnano and me at our first interview.

I’m sitting here about to press launch on the JENNIFER, 42 website, and I’m overwhelmed with emotion that this is finally happening. That my belief in the importance of this story convinced a small rag-tag group of phenomenally talented and passionate people to also believe in this story, and that together, brick by brick, stitch by stitch, (or whatever the digital equivalent of that metaphor is), we are making this film a reality.

I also feel a great sense of responsibility to Jessica, David and Emily, who have entrusted me with their story - to get all of it right, and to honor their lifelong struggle - whilst also trying to connect it to a greater worldwide struggle for the rights of women and children to live free of tyranny and violence.

I look back at all the interviews in kitchens, basements, dorm rooms and over Skype, the digging up of memories and committing them to a recording device, in the hopes that down the road, those words would shed light somewhere, to someone. And I feel that with the launch of this website we are one step closer to making all those painful interview sessions count for something. Without Jessica, David and Emily’s willingness and ability to speak so clearly and in such rich detail, with such presence and honesty, we would not have a story to tell. And worse, their story would be anonymous, known only to a few, a data set quietly being added to domestic violence statistics, from which we can quantify the problem, but learn very little. I believe there is no medium more powerful than film to affect a simultaneous change of hearts, minds, and culture, and from there policy and law. And that ultimately, is our goal.

Looking forward, I hope that you will take this journey with us, cheer us on and support this worthy project. We will be documenting the making of the film here, sharing our triumphs and defeats (hopefully not too many) and you will meet all our team members, current and future, and be able to follow along with all our various efforts. Please sign up for our newsletter, comment on our blog, or email us – we would love to hear from you!