Name: Special Event with Janis Ian: Screening "Breaking Silence" with In-Person Interview and Audience Q&A
Start: 2025-10-23T19:00:00-04:00
Location: 114 E Kirkwood Ave, Bloomington, IN, United States, Indiana 47401

Special Event with Janis Ian: Screening "Breaking Silence" with In-Person Interview and Audience Q&A

Bloomington Roots & BCT Presents a FREE Special Event:
Janis Ian: Screening “Breaking Silence” w/ In-Person Interview & Audience Q&A
Sponsored by: Nick Toth, Kathy Schick, The Stone Age Institute, and IU Arts & Humaities
*** Janis Ian will be in attendance, in person, for a Q&A session after the film ***
In the mid-60s, Janis Ian, a teenage singer-songwriter from New Jersey, scores a controversial hit single called “Society’s Child,” about an interracial love relationship. The song launches her illustrious career but also ignites death threats, plunging her into an emotional tailspin— only to emerge from the ashes in the 1970s with an even bigger hit, “At Seventeen,” ahead of its time in confronting lookism and bullying. Janis overcomes significant obstacles— embezzlement, record industry misogyny, and heartbreak— to find love and produce an indelible body of searingly honest songs that earn her a devoted following and critical acclaim.
Janis Ian: Breaking Silence chronicles the life, music, and times of maverick singer-songwriter Janis Ian, beginning with her teen years as a precocious member of the vibrant Greenwich Village folk scene jamming with such legends as Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. In the mid-70s, she ascends to international stardom with such hits as “Stars,” about the transient nature of fame (covered by Nina Simone and Cher), and “Jesse,” the wistful lament of a lonely person waiting for their lover to return home (covered to great success by the R&B singer Roberta Flack and Folk icon Joan Baez). With her megahit “At Seventeen,” her masterful take on adolescent pain and alienation, Ian cements her place as a voice for outsiders everywhere. In the 1980s, beset by financial difficulties, Ian moves to Nashville and reinvents herself as primarily a songwriter, collaborating and falling in love with the great songwriter Kye Fleming. With the release of her album “Breaking Silence,” she begins to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights.
Ian eventually returns to performing and continues to write songs that address challenging subject matter, such as the Holocaust, the murder of Matthew Shepard, and gay marriage. In 2022, she releases her final album, “Light at the End of the Line,” and launches her bittersweet final tour. Ian’s music endures attracting new fans, inspiring listeners with her disarmingly candid lyrics and unwavering resilience in the face of personal and professional challenges.
Janis Ian: Breaking Silence features interviews with Ian’s extraordinary community of friends and collaborators, including folk luminaries Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, and Tom Paxton, as well as Hollywood greats Lily Tomlin, Jean Smart, and Laurie Metcalf. Her notable work has earned her an honored place in folk and pop music history. Janis Ian continues to influence new generations of artists and activists. While she embraces her Jewish upbringing, upholds feminist values, and advocates for LGBQT+ rights, her story and music transcend the boundaries of identity politics, making her career a universal story relatable to all.