2018 Feature Finalist Rebecca Dreyfus


MEN is the story of a woman who–when confronted with her difficult father's terminal cancer–begins a secret, unstable affair with his favorite student.

About Rebecca Dreyfus

The profound social upheaval of the #metoo movement inspired a sense of urgency to make this film; complexity and contradiction in female characters suddenly seemed possible–even necessary.  Women require images–reflections–of their own powerful, difficult, entangled realities.

What do we reveal about ourselves?  What do we conceal?  Why do different people or situations compel different aspects of our personalities to surface?

And why, in extreme circumstances like the death of a parent, do our desires often radically, suddenly shift?

MEN is meant to be a gritty, no-holds-barred take on bodies, sex, and relationships, from the basest physical realities as our bodies, break down or become aroused to the most complicated entanglements: what we hide and what we reveal. As humans we are deciding this every minute of every day, ruled as much by our highest intellect as by our basest instincts.

As a documentary filmmaker, I’ve been committed to fostering situations that allow the essence of a person or circumstances to be revealed. Yet when my own father died, I found myself grappling with the process of disentangling the truth from the complicated physical and emotional realities that accompany the death of a parent.   MEN is a fictional film but with it, I am continuing my quest to get at the larger truth in the situation as the main characters struggle with intimacy in the face of death and the consequences of their own decisions and limitations.

MEN never wavers in confronting the truth of its main characters but ultimately, MEN is a movement from alienation towards tenderness and compassion in the face of our own essential fragility.

Here are some reviews of my previous work.

“Dreyfus’ work is a testament to what film can do in the hands of good documentarian: convert fact into truth.” 

– Stanley Kaufmann, The New Republic

“There is a knowing quality in its perspective, which achieves grace.”

-Le Monde (Paris)

“…Producing unexpected dimensions of tonal, emotional and psychological depth…”

-Wesley Morris, The Boston Globe


Contact Rebecca Deyfus:

Email: [email protected]