Filmmaker Statement

Sisters Charlotte and Emily Brontë have a passionate fan-base for their beloved novels, "Jane Eyre" and "Wuthering Heights". But there was a third Brontë sister, Anne, who is equal to Charlotte and Emily in both her brilliance and talent. Yet Anne remains a footnote within the lore of the Brontë sisters. Before tuberculosis abruptly ended her life, Anne Brontë wrote two novels and dozens of poems. Her second novel, "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall", was a revelation in English literature and scholars frequently cite it as the first feminist novel. So why doesn’t Anne have the same passionate fan-base that her two older sisters have? This is the question that launched my quest to write and ultimately direct "The Death of Anne Brontë". In doing so, I set out to create a film that yields a multifaceted portrait of Charlotte Brontë, a literary icon, while shedding light on her younger sister Anne, a forgotten genius.