Lucy Daniels believes that a family secret her sister told her when she was only four years old radically impacted the trajectory of her life, and set in motion a life-long debilitating mental illness. Born into a prominent and powerful newspaper-magnate family, from an early age Lucy defined her worth by her ability to write. Despite early success, she was struck with severe anorexia and subjected to brutal treatment in mental institutions, only to survive, pen her first best-seller, and ultimately win a Guggenheim Prize in literature – all before the age of 22.
In So Many Words is an experimental hybrid documentary exploring her dramatic life. The first of its kind, it weaves together “relational” recreations, animated dream sequences, constructed worlds and intimate interviews to tell a worthwhile story of survival and creativity, filtered through the eyes of subject and filmmaker.
Director | Elisabeth Haviland James
