A Small Family Affair

The hour before Jane’s nuptials, an unexpected guest from her past arrives to reveal a well-kept family secret that threatens to derail her entire wedding and could tear the family apart.

Director Biography – Barbara Stepansky

Barbara Stepansky is a WGA Award winner, a Nicholl Fellow and an award-winning independent film director. Born in Poland, her father’s involvement in the Solidarity movement led to the family relocating to Germany. After receiving a degree in philosophy of science from University College London, Barbara pursued her Master’s at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and in Directing at the American Film Institute with her acclaimed short film THE TROJAN COW. Her work was shortlisted for the Academy Awards, garnered the DGA Diversity Award, the Student Emmy and was featured on the Black List. She is the recipient of the Mary Pickford Foundation Scholarship and the Franklin J. Schaffner AFI Fellow Award. FLINT, a film she wrote about the Flint Water Crisis for Sony/Lifetime with Queen Latifah, was nominated for a Critics Choice and won a WGA Award. She is currently a co-producer on the Sony/Starz TV Show OUTLANDER.

Project Links


Director Statement

The first book I remember crying over was “Heaven” by V.C. Andrews. Since then, I was always captured by stories of forbidden love and all-consuming obsession. “A SMALL FAMILY AFFAIR” was born out of that inspiration. It is a twisted tale of a wedding, a family secret and two people who survived a heap of pain and disappointment. The idea was to make the audience not just empathize but sympathize with the main characters to such an extent that when the relationship is revealed, the audience feels conflicted over how much you are rooting for it.

I wanted to make the kind of movie that I would rush to see, and that contrasts an absurd situation with a deeply satisfying romance… but at the same time pushes the envelope and shows the consequences of what happens when secrets are being kept for too long. And we are cordially invited to watch.

Director:

Barbara Stepansky

Writer:

Barbara Stepansky

Producer:

Ben Scantlin, Sarah Ivy, Barbara Stepansky

Year Released:

2020

Country:

United States

Length:

16:58

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