Debra Schaffner is an editor and filmmaker of all things short and long, with an emphasis on art, education and body parts. Her work has screened at venues including SF DOC FEST, DOCS/MX, FRAMELINE and aired on PBS and SMG (China). She enjoys breaking into zoos and setting all the monkeys and penguins free, but has never been arrested. She is most recently credited as the editor of Dawn Lodgson’s feature documentary Free for All: Inside the Public Library.

Curse of the Mutant Heirloom is a hybrid documentary which explores the gift and curse of genetic knowledge. Faced with the inevitability of breast and ovarian cancer, three women grapple with removing healthy body parts before they are killed by them. Their stories – rendered with macabre humor using animation and miniatures – expose the grit and scars obscured by the glimmer of medical progress.