Jennifer Brea was a PhD student at Harvard when, one night, she found she couldn't write her own name.
Why you should listen
Over the following months, while doctors insisted her condition was psychosomatic, Brea became bedridden. She started filming herself and the community that she discovered online, collecting the first footage of what would become a feature documentary about myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), often referred to as chronic fatigue syndrome. The film, Unrest, which will premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, tells Jen's story as well as the stories of four other patients living with ME.
Brea is also the founder of #MEAction, an online organizing platform for ME patients around the world, many of whom cannot leave their homes.
Jennifer Brea’s TED Talk
More news and ideas from Jennifer Brea
In Brief
Filmmaker Jen Brea gets a Sundance fellowship, Pamela Ronald makes the case for engineered rice, and more
May 19, 2017
Behold, your recap of TED-related news: A new Sundance grant helps indie films get seen. Making a film is hard enough — but getting the film seen by an audience can be just as difficult, especially in this era of non-stop media shifts. To help, Sundance just launched the Creative Distribution Fellowship — and among […]
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A new museum 14 meters under the sea, a dance that draws on fiction, and other news from TED speakers
January 27, 2017
As usual, the TED community has lots of news to share this week. Below, some highlights. An underwater museum. Off the south coast of Lanzarote, 12 to 14 meters beneath the sea, lies artist Jason DeCaires Taylor’s latest museum, Museo Atlántico, which opened on January 10. Three years in the making, the installation is not […]
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Comment of the week, January 25, 2017: “Use your voices on our behalf”
January 25, 2017
The comment I’d like to highlight this week was left on Jen Brea’s TED Talk by Serena Morriss, who is currently suffering with ME. Although many community members have shared their personal experiences with the condition, Serena also asks those of us who are physically well to do more than listen. For anyone moved by […]
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