At first, student filmmaker Jana Clark Ludlow considered making a documentary about bionic limbs. Her husband had just returned from a robotics conference in Salt Lake City, and he’d been impressed with the prototypes he saw in a session about prosthetic technology.
But as Clark Ludlow looked into the subject last spring, during her senior year at Brigham Young University, she found amputees far more interesting than the devices they wear. “There are lots of cool things about prosthetics,” she says. “But once I got to know the people, I decided to focus on them and their experiences.”
Clark Ludlow was particularly keen to highlight individuals whose stories aren’t often told. “I found lots of films about Paralympians and marathon runners and these amazing people who are doing incredible things,” she explains. “But I wasn’t finding anything about regular, ordinary amputees—the people who live in our neighborhood.” A prosthetist urged Clark Ludlow to include at least one older amputee, as that population rarely gets depicted onscreen.
Ultimately, Clark Ludlow’s 20-minute film—titled Life After—featured two retirees, John Barraclough and Janet Jones, along with 22-year-old Sarah Frei. Since its completion last year, the project has earned recognition from multiple film festivals and was one of five nominees nationwide in the American Society of Cinematographers’ student division.
“My main challenge as an interviewer was to go beyond the facts of what happened and get to how they felt about it,” Clark Ludlow says. “From their perspective, it must have seemed like: ‘These college kids just came to my house, and now I’m going to tell them all the hardships in my life.’ But I believe when we’re vulnerable and share our deeper feelings, that can resonate with other people.”
There are plenty of resonant moments in Life After, but Clark Ludlow was surprised at how quickly limb loss receded in the narrative. “It made me realize that yes, we’re making a film about amputees, but it’s really a film about people,” she says. “We talk about amputation because that’s what they all have in common, but being an amputee is not a big part of their identity. So we gave attention to Janet’s baking and family dinners, John’s return to skiing, and other facets of their lives.”
“Jana did a very good job at making quiet moments the key to this film,” adds McKenna Buhler, the project’s cinematographer. To enhance the sense of intimacy, she shot multiple types of footage—including 16mm film stock, digital video, and still photos—to create a scrapbook effect. “We wanted it to feel like people were looking back on their lives, sharing these sacred, personal moments that they had preserved.”
Life After is still on the festival circuit, so you can’t find it online yet, but Clark Ludlow expects the film to be available on YouTube before summer’s out. In the meantime, check out the trailer at YouTube.
