A Documentary Film by Lauren Lindberg and Zoë Alyce Salnave
The Filmmakers
It's Not Just a Story, It's Personal
"When my sister had her accident there was even less research and understanding than there is now. I was very young so I didn't understand the implications of the accident, but our whole family witnessed her personality shift. As a woman of color navigating the healthcare system, I know she wasn't afforded a listening ear. That's who I'm doing this story for - the people who need to be heard. Their injuries matter."
- Director, Zoë Alyce Salnave
"I decided to take on this topic for my sister, a D1 athlete who had to medically retire at 23 due to brain injury...however, this documentary process has given me the ability to trace back problems with my own mental health to a brain injury I sustained in my late teens. I realized that there wasn't something wrong with me, there was something that happened to my brain and it needed to heal."
- Producer, Lauren Lindberg
Zoë Alyce Salnave
Founder & Director
Originally from the East Bay Area, Zoë Salnave is passionate about crafting narratives steeped in diverse urban culture. Through her lens as bi-racial, Jewish woman of color, she found a hole in the storytelling cannon that doesn’t showcase the colorful world she knows to be real. With underrepresentation fueling her, Salnave’s documentaries have been awarded internationally including a Resolution Award from the California Senate and screening for the Obamas for her humanitarian work in filmmaking in 2010. Holding a BA from Mills College in Cinema Literacy and Cultural Studies, and her MFA from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts in Directing and Producing, she remains dedicated to storytelling that is diverse, inclusive, and progressive, by showcasing characters that reflect the nuance and multilateral complexities of today’s world. Salnave has worked as a freelance Producer and Director for over 14 years. She has also worked in Television Development for IMAGINE Entertainment (Brain Grazer, Ron Howard) and as a Producer on the SHOWTIME docuseries Couples Therapy. She currently works as a Director for Glass & Marker based in Oakland, California.
Lauren Lindberg
Founder & Producer
Lauren Lindberg is a seasoned documentarian and Producer with over a decade of experience working on the front lines with innovators and visionaries; taking complex topics and distilling them into meaningful experiences that deeply resonate in a world in need of re-imagination and inspiration. As a brain injury survivor, Lindberg brings a nuanced, experienced based perspective to the topics she tackles – suicide, mental health, women’s health, and disibility. Lindberg’s work has screened in over 60 film festivals worldwide. Lindberg has been featured on PBS Independent Lens `Leading the Conversation: Young Women Voices in Media,’ and has won a Jefferson Award for her work in impact-driven storytelling and community activism. She currently produces documentaries for Freethink, a digital platform that highlights the innovative people, ideas and technology that are moving our world forward.
Jessa Butler
Producer
Jessica Butler is a Latinx creatively focused producer and brand strategist, dedicated to creating entertaining, inspiring and engaging content on a variety of mediums. Her specialities lie in strategic planning, creative problem solving, outreach, and awareness. Butler led the creative development team and production of the award winning Childish Gambino Google Playmoji launch campaign commercial debuting in the Grammys, resulting in a Cannes lion, 223% increase in app downloads, and 21 MM impressions on Twitter. As a brand strategist she has led, planned and executed large scale theatrical, platform and VOD campaigns (3-16 MM) for new kid on the block movie studio, STX Entertainment. More recently she led a PR and social team to provide executive guidance and coverage on the Covid-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement, which included a virtual dinner party program with celebrity influencers, yielding 3.5 million meals donated to Feeding America. In her spare time she volunteers for a local council woman, is a blog content creator and is spearheading the production development efforts of independent documentary films.