States of Grace

A journey of loss, resilience and renewal
by
Year Released
2015
Film Length(s)
75 mins
Closed captioning available Audio description available
Remote video URL

Introduction

Winner of multiple 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.

Featured review

An amazing film that poetically captures the many layers of triumph and struggle experienced by both patients and caregivers. Remarkable in its honesty, surprising in its humor, and gripping in its ability to take viewers to unexpected places
Robert Saper
MD, MPH, associate professor of family medicine, Boston University School of Medicine

Synopsis

Winner of multiple 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.

Family dynamics are turned upside down as each of them must negotiate new roles and responsibilities. As the only able-bodied person in their household, Fu becomes the primary caregiver to Grace while also taking on a more active role as parent. Grace, meanwhile, must reconcile her joy at still being alive with the frustration of being so dependent on others. With dry humor and brave candor, the three of them slowly recalibrate their lives together and apart.

Through verité footage and interviews with doctors, family, and friends, the film paints an inspiring portrait of devotion and trust as it delicately documents one woman’s fight to reinvent herself.

(Audio Description available on DVD only.)

Reviews

Brave, refreshingly unsentimental. . . . A journey that directors Helen Cohen and Mark Lipman chart in an unflinching yet sensitive way
David Lewis
San Francisco Chronicle
A precious gift to the disability community, which has been hurt by many heroic expectations and misguided spiritual teachings. I think about disability rights as the hard-won right to be ordinary; 'States of Grace' reinforces that right with great compassion.
Beth Smith
LCSW, MA, clinical supervisor, Through the Looking Glass
Not a perfect family, and certainly not your typical one, but somehow they make sense together. I feel privileged to have watched their journey. I recommend you do the same.
Daniela Costa
AfterEllen.com
The generosity of spirit captured by the filmmakers is stunning. A humbling and profound film with meaning and lessons for all viewers.
William B. Stewart
MD, medical director, Institute for Health & Healing, California Pacific Medical Center/Sutter Health
A remarkable example of the complexity of the healing experience. 'States of Grace' deftly demonstrates that healing can — and must — go far beyond the physical.
Alissa Murray
Global Advances in Health & Medicine Journal
A riveting documentary, 'States of Grace' tackles complex and difficult caregiving issues with frankness, poignancy, and empathy for all involved. Heartfelt and inspiring.
Kathleen A. Kelly
executive director, Family Caregiver Alliance: National Center on Caregiving
A poignant, universal saga. . . . Achieves a relevance and a power that reaches well beyond its subjects.
Michael Fox
KQED
Powerful. . . .'States of Grace' will have a remarkable effect on the nursing profession.
Nurse Talk
Nurse Talk
A loving portrait of caregiving and families of choice. Everyone should watch 'States of Grace' with their loved ones to generate important conversation about health and quality-of-life decisions. Wonderfully life-affirming.
Michelle Alcedo
director of programs, Openhouse: Services for LGBT Seniors
Incredibly moving and inspiring. 'States of Grace' expresses the rehabilitation and healing process with insight, integrity, and compassion. As a professional, I feel my ability to assist clients is enhanced by what I learned from watching Grace and Fu's story.
Patricia Gill
MS, executive director, Brain Injury Network of the Bay Area

Awards and Screenings

Audience Award - Mill Valley Film Festival, 2014
Audience Award - Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, 2014
Audience Award - Napa Valley Film Festival, 2014
Official Selection - Athens International Film and Video Festival, 2015
Official Selection - Awareness Film Festival, 2015
Official Selection - Bendigo Queer Film Festival, 2015
Official Selection - Doctober, 2015
Official Selection - Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival, 2015
Official Selection - Hudson Valley International Film Festival, 2015
Official Selection - Maine International Film Festival, 2015
Official Selection - Melbourne Queer Film Festival, 2015
Official Selection - Mendocino Film Festival, 2014
Official Selection - MIX Copenhagen LesbianGayBiTrans Film Festival, 2015
Official Selection - Portland Oregon Women's Film Festival, 2015
Official Selection - San Luis Obispo Film Festival, 2015
Official Selection - Santa Cruz Film Festival, 2014
Official Selection - Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival, 2015
Official Selection - Wine Country Film Festival, 2015

Director Commentary

States of Grace is a labor of love that emerged from a desire to witness and document a friend’s remarkable journey following a tragic, life-altering event. Dr. Grace Dammann, the primary subject of the film, is a dear, longtime friend. Our daughters, now young women, had been buddies as toddlers, and we maintained a close friendship during the years that followed.

We received the devastating news that Grace had been in a head-on collision on the Golden Gate Bridge while we were traveling overseas in May 2008. We returned home to the frenzy and panic at the trauma hospital, where Grace’s large circle of friends and family kept vigil. Would Grace live? If she survived, would she have any brain function? What would her quality of life be like? How would she, along with her family and community, face the daunting unknowns that lay ahead? These questions consumed us all for the many weeks she was in a coma. We waited and fretted while the doctors performed surgery after surgery attempting to mend her shattered body.

The idea of making a film about Grace didn’t surface until after she regained consciousness, nearly seven weeks after the accident. To everyone’s shock, Grace awoke on the Fourth of July singing “You Are My Sunshine” and asking philosophical questions, indicating that her mental faculties were miraculously intact. Coincidentally, we had taken her daughter, Sabrina, to the Marin County Fair that day. As we walked around the dusty fairgrounds, Sabrina—who had been in the car with Grace and survived the accident with only minor injuries—brought up the idea of making a movie about her mom.

At that time, the trauma of the accident was still too painful and Grace’s future still too uncertain for us to seriously contemplate filming. But as the weeks and months unfolded, Grace’s recovery and spirit continually amazed and inspired us. We began to think that Sabrina’s idea held real promise. As seasoned producers of social issue and educational documentaries, we were ready to dig into a more artistic project and eager to create a verité film that followed a deeply personal story over time. Mark was also itching to move out of the editing room and pick up his camera again, getting back to his love of cinematography.

In 2009, near the end of thirteen months in residential rehabilitation hospitals, Grace was released for an afternoon to celebrate Sabrina’s sixteenth birthday at a nearby Chinese restaurant. We videotaped the party as a trial run and were completely captivated by the experience; in our bones, we knew her homecoming and recovery would be a remarkable journey to follow. When Grace left the hospital for good a week later, we were there with our camera to start shooting in earnest, never imagining this film would become such a passionate, consuming project for us for the next five years.

Right from the start we wanted the filmmaking to be as unobtrusive and observational as possible, so the two of us comprised the entire production crew. We had a unique opportunity to capture the experience in an extremely personal and intimate way, given our history and closeness with Grace, Fu, and Sabrina. All three of them gave us uncensored access to their lives, and we showed up as often as possible to bear witness to their unfolding new reality.

Helen conducted the many interviews with the family, as well as Grace’s friends, doctors, and therapists—sometimes using formal interview setups, sometimes organically as scenes unfolded. Mark, who managed both camera and sound, frequently shot on his own, showing up at countless doctor’s appointments and physical therapy sessions—as well as sleeping on the living room couch in order to capture the family routine through the night or to document five a.m. trips to the hospital for Grace’s surgeries. To film during times when we weren’t around, we gave Fu a small digital camcorder; two of the more poignant scenes in the film come from her footage.

While we set out to focus on Grace’s recovery, Fu proved to be a compelling character in her own right. It wasn’t until we were well into the editing process that we came to understand how much this was a story about the entire family—and especially the complex roles and relationship between Fu and Grace as caregiver and care receiver.

Though it was difficult at times to straddle the line between filmmaker and friend, there was a kind of magic in the intensity, intimacy, and emotion of the experience for all of us—and our friendships deepened through the process. For Grace, the filmmaking became a way to process her own feelings and experiences as she was going through them. For us, it was both a privilege and an emotional challenge to witness her arduous healing and rehabilitation process; her struggle to come to terms with her profound limitations and dependency; and her determination to make meaning out of her radically altered life and identity. We were often astonished at Grace’s resilience in the face of great struggle, and it was heartbreaking to share in the profound loss she had to endure.

Grace hoped that something positive could come out of the accident, and she sees the film as a way to contribute something to the world—just one more piece in her long legacy of being of service to others as a physician and a Buddhist. We share that aspiration, believing that her story and the many lessons embedded within it will have a profound effect on audiences and will prove to be a far-reaching educational resource.

Features and Languages

Film Features

  • Audio Description
  • Closed Captioning
  • Subtitles

Subtitle/Caption Languages

  • English
  • Spanish

Promotional Material

Promotional Stills

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