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Before the Moon Falls

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On an early morning in May 2024, director Kimberlee Bassford awoke to a message on her phone. Her film’s protagonist, the acclaimed Samoan writer Sia Figiel, had been arrested in Samoa. For eight years, Bassford had been crafting an intimate portrait of Figiel, a groundbreaking novelist and poet, celebrated worldwide as the first to give voice to the struggles of Samoan girls and women. She and her team had followed Figiel's triumphs and hardships, from literary stardom to a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, and had nearly completed the film when tragedy struck. What emerges is a searing exploration of mental illness in all its complexities. Deeply nuanced and human, Before the Moon Falls is at once a compelling tribute to one woman’s extraordinary life and a reckoning with the devastating consequences of what happens when care for mental health is absent or inconsistent.

Cast & Crew

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Kimberlee Bassford

Director

Sia Figiel

Self

Kimberlee Bassford

Writer

Sia Figiel

Writer

Kimberlee Bassford

Producer

Linda Goldstein Knowlton

Producer
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Before the Moon Falls

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Movie Info

Synopsis On an early morning in May 2024, director Kimberlee Bassford awoke to a message on her phone. Her film’s protagonist, the acclaimed Samoan writer Sia Figiel, had been arrested in Samoa. For eight years, Bassford had been crafting an intimate portrait of Figiel, a groundbreaking novelist and poet, celebrated worldwide as the first to give voice to the struggles of Samoan girls and women. She and her team had followed Figiel's triumphs and hardships, from literary stardom to a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, and had nearly completed the film when tragedy struck. What emerges is a searing exploration of mental illness in all its complexities. Deeply nuanced and human, Before the Moon Falls is at once a compelling tribute to one woman’s extraordinary life and a reckoning with the devastating consequences of what happens when care for mental health is absent or inconsistent.
Director
Kimberlee Bassford
Producer
Kimberlee Bassford, Linda Goldstein Knowlton
Screenwriter
Kimberlee Bassford, Sia Figiel
Production Co
Making Waves Films
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Runtime
1h 41m