JANIS IAN: BREAKING SILENCE

As a teenage singer-songwriter from New Jersey in the mid-60’s, Janis Ian had one of the more remarkable debuts in modern music history. At 13, she scored a hit single– “Society’s Child,” about an interracial love relationship, which launched her career. She then began performing in New York City clubs with future legends, and her songwriting and singing were heralded by no less than Leonard Bernstein. 

She would follow this with her biggest hit, “At Seventeen,” and continued a career that has spanned five decades. Winning Grammys while overcoming significant personal obstacles and producing an indelible body of music that has earned her a devoted following and critical acclaim.

JANIS IAN: BREAKING THE SILENCE is a new movie about her extraordinary life, directed by Varda Bar-Kar, and which lands in theaters this week. It includes interviews with Ian and her collaborators, along with Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, Lily Tomlin, Jean Smart, among others. This remarkable portrait uses Ian’s songbook and her turbulent life story to capture a portrait of an artist and her songs that personified a generation of American women.

Join us as we sit down with the director, Varda Bar-Kar, on INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE, starting now… 

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.