Film: Extraordinary story of a young stroke victim's fight for recovery

Date
10 December 2013

Back in January 2012 we hosted a series of talks at London’s Selfridges store which explored the idea of words through an eclectic set of speakers. One of those was neuroscientist Dr Jenny Crinion whom we invited to discuss aphasia, the inability to form words which often follows a stroke (the video of which is below). She brought with her Lotje Sodderland, whose life changed forever when she suffered a stroke aged just 34. Filmmaker Sophie Robinson became fascinated by Lotje’s story, and has followed her on her difficult journey towards recovery.

The resulting documentary is a combination of Sophie’s filming and Lotje’s own footage, creating an intimate and inspiring portrait of both her triumphs and her struggles. A chance encounter with a David Lynch article takes the tale in an unexpected direction, an added twist to a story that scarcely needed any more drama. The film is currently subject to a Kickstarter campaign which you can check out here.

Above

Sophie Robinson: My Beautiful Broken Brain (poster)

Above

Sophie Robinson: My Beautiful Broken Brain (still)

Above

Sophie Robinson: My Beautiful Broken Brain (still)

Above

Sophie Robinson: My Beautiful Broken Brain (still)

Above

Sophie Robinson: My Beautiful Broken Brain (still)

Share Article

About the Author

Rob Alderson

Rob joined It’s Nice That as Online Editor in July 2011 before becoming Editor-in-Chief and working across all editorial projects including itsnicethat.com, Printed Pages, Here and Nicer Tuesdays. Rob left It’s Nice That in June 2015.

It's Nice That Newsletters

Fancy a bit of It's Nice That in your inbox? Sign up to our newsletters and we'll keep you in the loop with everything good going on in the creative world.