“Every morning I wake up with blood in my mouth and think: is it mine?”

So begins Joan’s Teeth, a short film set in the institutional monotony of a senior care facility, where routines of brushing, eating, and passing the time collide with memory, desire, and dread. Joan is funny, sharp, and unflinching. She tells us about her dentist, her first lover in the back of a borrowed Impala, the indignities of old age, the way the past refuses to let her body rest, and how the teeth, those stubborn, plotting remnants, refuse to stay quiet.

As she puts it: “They should call it what it is: Adult Dying Center. That’s what we’re here for. You can’t out-negotiate death.”

Your tax-deductible support through Fractured Atlas makes it possible to tell this bold, funny, deeply human story. We are raising $15,000 to pay our cast and crew, secure equipment, locations, and insurance, provide meals, and fund post-production, sound, music, and festival submissions.

We are thrilled to announce that Kathleen Turner — a beloved star whose work has defined generations of stage and screen — will bring Joan to life. Her presence elevates this project into something extraordinary, blending artistry, humor, and cultural resonance.

Dipti wrote Joan’s Teeth to capture the way aging holds both tenderness and terror—and the way an aging woman is so often treated as if she’s already obsolete. Joan is no saint and no victim; she’s biting, funny, contradictory, alive. Through her, Dipti asks: when the body fails and the world stops noticing, what’s left of us?

We are a team of passionate, mostly women filmmakers, committed to telling bold and resonant stories:

Together, we bring decades of experience in film, theater, and television.

Your support ensures this story is told with artistry and professionalism. Funds will cover:

Thank you for helping us make a dream come true!

Meet Our Team

Kathleen Turner as Joan
Screen icon Kathleen Turner has garnered critical acclaim for her performances in movies including Body Heat, Romancing The Stone, Prizzi's Honor, Peggy Sue Got Married, and War of the Roses. Turner's extensive film credits also include The Man with Two Brains; Jewel of the Nile, The Accidental Tourist; V.I. Warshawski; John Waters' Serial Mom; Naked in New York; Moonlight and Valentino; The Real Blonde; and Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides. Ms. Turner has starred on Broadway in Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, Indiscretions; The Graduate; and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. She is also a director and activist – particularly for women’s health – and finds it rewarding to teach master classes.

Dipti Bramhandkar is a Mumbai-born playwright and filmmaker, and a member of LAByrinth Theater Company. In 2024, her immersive production Conjuring the King premiered with Juggerknot Theatre Company in Miami, earning the Silver Palm Award for Best Immersive Experience. She is the recipient of The Farm Theater’s 2023–24 College Collaboration Project Fellowship, through which she developed Soft Launch (premiering at Centre College) and The Ruminants (produced at Austin Peay State University, Middle Tennessee State University, Shenandoah University, and The New School). Her plays have been featured in LAByrinth’s Barn Series four times in the past five years. Is There Even Porn in India? was workshopped in London with director Tim Supple (Young Vic) and dramaturg Jack Bradley (Sonia Friedman), and later presented in New York with Sarita Choudhury, Kevin Corrigan, and Ajay Naidu. Islands of Contentment, produced by Hypokrit Productions and The Tank, featured Daphne Rubin-Vega, Danny Pudi, Laura Gómez, Kalki Koechlin, and Suraj Sharma. As playwright-in-residence at Guild Hall, she was commissioned to write A Land Without Weather, which included performances by David Zayas, David Anzuelo, Chris McGarry, and Purva Bedi. Her audio plays—Kishori’s Canteen and Learning to Swim—are available on Audible, and her solo show American Rookie, produced by Luna Stage, continues to be performed nationwide. Her short film The Choice, starring Bobby Daniel Rodriguez, has been selected for multiple film festivals. Dipti holds a B.A. and M.A. in English Literature from Cornell University and Cambridge University, respectively. She is represented for theater by Seth Glewen at Gersh.

Padraic is the Founding Artistic Director of The Farm Theater. The Farm Theater’s College Collaboration Project commissioned and developed John Proctor is the Villain currently running on Broadway, nominated for 7 Tony Awards and soon to be adapted into a feature film produced by Sadie Sink and Tina Fey. Padraic won Best Short film at the Milan International Film Festival for his film Hand Over Hand. His award-winning film, Get To Eleven, based on his solo show, addresses mental health, suicide ideation, and recovery aired on PBS. He was the Acting Coach on a Sara Sarandos produced feature film Bunny , which premiered at SXSW, and the award-winning feature Queen of Knives. Padraic was awarded Best Director for NY International Fringe Festival, Innovative Theater Awards Best Director. His work has been presented internationally as well as The Kennedy Center. He was commissioned by the Library of Congress to create a piece commemorating the 100th anniversary of WWI. Padraic directed the National Tour of She Loves Me. Padraic was The Humana Visiting Scholar and Artist in Residence at Centre College. His plays are published with Dramatists Play Services. He is a member of the Labyrinth Theater Company, and alumni of the Drama League Director’s Project, and a lifelong Yankee fan.

Coley Campany (Assistant Director/ Producer/ Development & Creative Oversight) 

Coley is an LA based actor, writer, director, and producer whose work spans television, film, and theater. Her work can be seen in acclaimed series such as The Resident, Candy, Creepshow, S.W.A.T., Found, Watchmen, and NCIS: New Orleans. And fun fact, she played Joan Rivers in Hulu’s limited series Mike. On the film side, Coley has appeared in celebrated projects including The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Loving, Shotgun Stories, and the upcoming indie feature Clean Hands. As a writer and performer, Coley is currently developing a one-woman show in Los Angeles: part sermon, part stand-up, part spiritual jailbreak. Her creative portfolio also includes short films, sketches, and music videos that reflect her collaborative spirit. Coley’s long-standing artistic partnership with writer Dipti Bramhandkar, producer Kim Berrios Lin, and director Padraic Lillis began at the 2014 Labyrinth Theater Intensive and has grown through countless projects that blend heart, humor, and fearless storytelling.

Kim Berrios Lin (Line Producer/ And She Flew LLC) 

Kim is an Actor, Producer, and Writer. Most notably, she played a major recurring role in Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin & Summer School, as the mother of Malia Pyles and wife of Lea Salonga. Other credits include: Law & Order SVU, FBI, Better Nate Than Ever, Pose, New Amsterdam, Almost Family, Bull, and The Politician. She is currently in two films touring the festival circuit: Mama Mama & Peri Street, and recently wrapped the leading role in, America, executive produced by Vanessa Hudgens.
Kim is the founder of the award-winning indie production company, And She Flew®, co- founder of the social justice theatre org Colors of Community, holds an MFA from The Actor’s Studio Drama School, is an ensemble member of Barefoot Theatre Company & Playful Substance, was a judge for the MOM Film Festival, and is on the Applaud Our Kids Foundation Advisory Committee. She attributes connecting to oh so many, now vital humans to her life and Artistic family, through The Labyrinth Theater Company’s Intensive Ensemble; where she met Coley, Dipti, and Padraic.

Liza Gipsova - Director of Photography
Liza Gipsova is an award-winning cinematographer working across narrative, commercial, documentary, and the genre-bending things in between. She’s honored to be selected as part of the ASC Vision program, and her work has taken her to four continents and played at festivals worldwide, most notably Tribeca, Fantasia, Newport Beach, Hamptons and others, as well as at venues such as the United Nations, Museum of the Moving Image and Anthology Film Archives. She is a member of International Cinematographers Guild (Local 600) and recently honored with an HCA mentorship.
Her multifaceted background spans the gamut of traditional, digital, photographic and theater arts, before coming up in the ranks of the camera department and co-founding Curiouser Creative Studio, a visual media production company that's garnered multiple Telly Awards as well as the recognition of the American Institute of Graphic Artists (AIGA).
Soviet-born and Maryland-raised, in her downtime Liza enjoys dancing enthusiastically, traveling, southern exposure and being near/on/in the water with her partner and kiddos.

Miranda Plant Byers (Consulting Producer) 

Miranda Plant Byers is a Canadian actress, and film producer. She is passionate about telling stories created by women, which promote equality and diversity. Favorite producing credits include Seth Rudetsky's Deconstructing Broadway (Canadian premiere); Like, Subscribe, Obey (2023 Cayle Chernin Award Finalist), Greater Good (winner of 8 awards, and official selection at 28 film festivals worldwide), When We Grow Up (Winner of "Best of the Lens", Indy Film Fest), Black Opera Live (a series celebrating Black classical artists and opera singers), and the virtual concert Jessye Norman at 75: A Celebration (winner of the "Best In Concert" by Opera 360). She is a proud advocate of women in the arts, and works with several non-profit organizations, and was recognized for her advocacy in storytelling with the "Editha Award for Women’s Empowerment" by the Hudson International Film Festival in 2021. She has been a judge for the 2021 Emmy Awards, the MOM Film Festival, the DC Web Fest, the Moonshot Accelerator Program, and mentors other artists with StateraArts.