Last week, Washington D.C. based video journalist and documentary filmmaker, Sahar Sarshar, and the Full Frame team were honored with a national Emmy award for Outstanding Feature Story in a News Magazine. Sarshar, who is also a contributor to the Adorama Learning Center, produced the winning 19-minute video story, “Jen Bricker: When Can’t Is a Four-Letter Word,” for CCTV America’s Full Frame. The story follows accomplished aerialist and acrobat, Jen Bricker, who was born without legs and eventually discovers she’s related to an Olympic gymnast who was her childhood idol.
Bricker’s story is unique and full of fateful twists and turns, and Sarshar’s expert story-telling allows the viewers to see inside the hearts of those we meet on screen. We recently had a chance to speak with Sarshar and here’s what she shared with us about creating this amazing story.
Q: How did you first discover the story of Jen Bricker?
A: I work on a show called Full Frame for CCTV America. It is a culture and human-interest talk show with feature stories. My primary job is to produce the feature stories we call “Close Up’s.” Our Executive Producer, Monna Kashfi, had a meeting with me and sent me links of prior interviews and feature stories on Jen Bricker. The story idea had been pitched to her by our colleague, Laleh Tavakoli. After I had seen that it had been covered before, I felt a slight apprehension. How could we tell this story differently and/or better than others had before? I couldn’t say no, and I’m always up for a challenge. I also felt a strong draw towards Jen, Jen’s parents and Dominique Moceanu (who I had also idolized growing up).
Q: How much time did you spend with the family, and what kind of preparation goes into delving into such a personal story, essentially peering into the heart of this family…
A: We spent 2 days with Jen, a day with Dominique, and a day with Jen’s adoptive parents. I wish it had been longer, but I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with all of them and I was sad to say goodbye. So far, this is the longest time we’ve spent on a finished feature story. The preparation that went into this wasn’t any different than any other story we work on. My focus was making sure that they all felt safe and excited to share their story. The only difference was I felt more pressure this time after knowing that they could probably be worn out from having to tell it so many times before.
Q: This is your first Emmy win, but you have been producing feature stories / documentaries for 8 years. Was there something about creating this documentary that stood out to you from your other work?
A: Sometimes I work on a story and it hits home and inspires just me. But this story inspired everyone who worked on it. Our collective goal was to make this the best version of a story that had been told to date. To me, that was the most beautiful aspect of it. Our editor Janne Syrjanen really weaved this story in a way that kept the audience watching and interested. And photographer Don Stanke made it his personal goal to visually tell this story in a way that hadn’t been done before.
Q: What is in your gear bag?
A: I’m a producer so I’m not required to carry anything! But I do always bring a DSLR camera with me – my Canon 7D. I started out as a video editor and photographer. So the visual aspect of storytelling is very important to me. And I like to get my photography fix every once in a while – it’s really an addiction. Our photographer, Don Stanke, was kind enough to let me film some of the shots in the Jen Bricker piece. There aren’t many, but there were some shots I took that made the final piece.
Q: What’s next for you in terms of your goals as a documentary filmmaker?
A: My goals are to remain focused on telling stories in a beautiful, truthful and inspiring way. There are so many people whose stories need to be told or retold. I would love to do more long-form docs, and I’d also love to one day be able to tell a story in a more interactive way. But as long as I can connect people and work on stories that change me as a person, I’ll be happy.
