Film Session

Midlife Unscripted: Exploring Menopause Through Film

Denise Pines, Film Producer, Los Angeles, CA 90008-1127, Sharon Malone, MD, Washington, DC, Tamsen Fadal, Film Producer, Take Flight Productions, New York, NY, Mary Nelson Robertson, Department of Biochemistry, Nutrition, and Health Promotion, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS and Kelly E. Murray, PhD Candidate, MPH, Department of International Health and Sustainable Development, Tulane University Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, LA 70118-4240

APHA 2025 Annual Meeting and Expo

Film/Video

The M Factor: Shredding the Silence on Menopause

Denise Pines, Film Producer1 and Tamsen Fadal, Film Producer2
(1)Los Angeles, CA, (2)Take Flight Productions, New York, NY

APHA 2025 Annual Meeting and Expo

A silent epidemic is impacting millions of American women, leading to billions in lost wages, derailed careers, strained families, and emotional upheaval—its name is menopause. The film confronts the neglected menopause crisis, challenging societal and medical shortcomings, and advocating for a revolutionary approach to women's health where she’s prepared for midlife. Menopause represents a significant transition in women's lives, with physical and emotional changes that can have long-term consequences from cardiovascular disease and bone loss to dementia. Despite its universality and impact, the healthcare system inadequately prepares physicians to address menopause and its symptoms so women’s health concerns are largely ignored or attributed to age-related illness, leading to the silence and suffering of millions of women. The film is a rallying cry for empowering women, dispelling myths and replacing them with facts that will change lives.

Advocacy for health and health education Diversity and culture Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs Provision of health care to the public Public health or related education