Filmmaker and POV alum Joanna Rudnick writes in with an update about the ACLU’s recent lawsuit against Myriad Genetics, which challenges Myriad’s patent on the breast cancer genes. In the documentary film In the Family, which had its broadcast premiere on POV in October 2008, I shared my own story of testing positive for the […]

Joanna Rudnick is the director of In the Family. After seeing the film, many viewers wrote in to ask her a question or to share their own stories. Read on as Joanna responds to some of the many questions and comments that she received: Joanna writes: Thanks so much to everyone who watched In the […]

If you missed the premier of two great P.O.V films this week, you have a chance to watch the full films online! In the Family is streaming online until October 31, 2008 while Critical Condition is streaming until November 11, 2008. Both films document intensely personal journeys and stories, and both are engaged with the […]

How much would you sacrifice to survive? When filmmaker Joanna Rudnick tested positive for the BRCA gene (the “breast cancer gene”), she knew the information could save her life. She also knew that she was not only confronting mortality at an early age, but would have to make heart-wrenching decisions about the life that lay […]

The decision to undergo genetic testing is a very personal decision with the potential for some very powerful emotional repercussions, as we witness in Joanna Rudnick’s In the Family. Because their mother had survived ovarian cancer, Joanna and her sister understood that they might be at higher risk for developing cancer themselves. After her sister […]

When Chicago filmmaker Joanna Rudnick tested positive for the “breast cancer gene” at age 27, she set out to make In the Family. Although she had no intention of “starring” in her own movie, she couldn’t find a young, unmarried woman with the mutation who hadn’t had surgery and was willing to be filmed. Joanna […]

On October 7, 2008, POV will air Joanna Rudnick‘s In the Family. When Joanna tested positive for the “breast cancer gene” at age 27, she knew the information could save her life. She also knew that she would have to make heart-wrenching decisions about whether or not to remove her breasts and ovaries, or risk […]