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Logline

When two filmmakers reconnect, post-injury, they embark on a journey to understand the world of concussions; exploring why traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are globally misunderstood and what happens when radical empathy and understanding the brain leads to healing.

Synopsis

Imagine waking up with a different personality. Or suddenly losing control of your life, and no longer feeling connected to your sense of self. This sounds like the plot of a science fiction movie, yet it’s the reality for many survivors of traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Similar to the disconnected neurological paths disrupted by a TBI, the world of concussions remains disconnected as resources known to heal and recover brain injury are not widely available.

Guided by their desire to understand the impacts of their own brain injuries, this impact-driven documentary follows two young filmmakers, Zoë Salnave and Lauren Lindberg, on a search for other TBI survivors across the nation to bring visibility to the ‘invisible injury’ and drive brain injury out of the dark and into the light.

The Black Brain is a portrait of resilient survivors facing individually unprecedented TBI related circumstances, placing a microscope on mass undiagnosed brain injury’s undeniable intersection with many of society’s issues: incarceration, homelessness, substance abuse, sexual assault, and suicide.

Navigating their journeys in parallel, the filmmakers unite with their subjects in search of answers. The Black Brain shows survivors of TBI, facing hurdles in their recovery, but ultimately find grace in the journey, a greater connection to the human will to live, and a hope unlike any other.

Brain injury isn’t a period at the end of a sentence, but a comma, giving pause to a survivor and leading to a deeper understanding of their place in life.

The Black Brain Film asks; can the collective strength of a community of survivors power a global healing movement?
 

Meet the Filmmakers

Zoë Salnave – Director
Originally from the East Bay Area, Zoë Salnave has been an auteure in crafting narratives steeped in diverse urban culture from a young age. 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 under Brain Grazer and Ron Howard, as well as a Producer on the SHOWTIME docu-series Couples Therapy. She currently works as a Creative Director for Glass & Marker based in Oakland, California bringing human-focused storytelling to investor and commercial audiences.

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Contact

For inquiries, please contact fiscalsponsorship@filmindependent.org.