Jennifer Brea is an American documentary

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

and

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

. Her debut feature, ''

Unrest Unrest, also called disaffection, is a sociological phenomenon, including: * Civil unrest * Civil disorder * Domestic terrorism * Industrial unrest * Labor unrest * Rebellion * Riot * Strike action * State of emergency Notable historical instance ...

'', premiered at the

2017 Sundance Film Festival The 2017 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 19 to January 29, 2017. The first lineup of competition films was announced November 30, 2016. Awards The following awards were presented: * Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic – ''I Don't Feel at ...

and received the US Documentary Special Jury Award For Editing. Brea also co-created a virtual reality film which premiered at

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...

Career

''Unrest''

Brea was a PhD student at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

when she became suddenly ill with a high fever and became bedridden. She was initially misdiagnosed with

conversion disorder Conversion disorder (CD), or functional neurologic symptom disorder, is a diagnostic category used in some psychiatric classification systems. It is sometimes applied to patients who present with neurological symptoms, such as numbness, blindness ...

, but eventually was identified as having

myalgic encephalomyelitis Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also called myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) or ME/CFS, is a complex, debilitating, long-term medical condition. The causes and mechanisms of the disease are not fully understood. Distinguishing core symptoms are ...

(ME), also known as

chronic fatigue syndrome Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also called myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) or ME/CFS, is a complex, debilitating, long-term medical condition. The causes and mechanisms of the disease are not fully understood. Distinguishing core symptoms are ...

(CFS). In 2013, she began making a documentary film from bed about her experience. Initially called "Canary in a Coal Mine," it raised significant production funds on Kickstarter via a campaign that mobilized the online community of many other homebound and bedbound patients and their families. ''Unrest'' premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and aired on PBS's ''Independent Lens'' on January 8, 2018. It was shortlisted for an Oscar for best documentary film.

Awards and accolades

In 2014, The Root recognized her as one of the hundred most influential African-Americans in its Root100 list. Brea was also recognized as ProHealth's "2017 ME/CFS Patient Advocate Of The Year."

Activism

In 2015 she co-founded #MEAction, a global network of patients living with ME. MEAction went on to spearhead the #MillionsMissing movement, a patient-centered protest in which hundreds of empty shoes were displayed in order to represent the 25% of patients with ME who are housebound or bedbound. In June 2016, Brea gave a

TED Talk TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...

on her experience as a person with ME. The TED Talk was published on the TED website in January 2017.

Personal

In 2012, Brea married

Omar Wasow Omar Tomas Wasow (born December 22, 1970) is an assistant professor in UC Berkeley’s Department of Political Science. He is co-founder of the social networking website BlackPlanet. Life Wasow grew up in a multi-ethnic family. His father, Bernar ...

, co-founder of

BlackPlanet BlackPlanet is an African-American social networking service for matchmaking and job postings; it also has forums for discussion on political and social issues. BlackPlanet was launched on September 1, 2001 by Omar Wasow, an Internet analyst, wh ...

and currently an assistant professor at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

References

External links

Official website
*
TED Talk

Unrest documentary website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brea, Jennifer Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American documentary filmmakers American health activists People with chronic fatigue syndrome Harvard University alumni ME/CFS activists