Jeannette Feliciano was sipping on cherry vodka and soda at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, “having a blast.” It was almost two a.m. when the sound of firearms broke out and turned her life upside down. Blood. Bullets. Debris. Dead bodies falling in front of her from the hand of “silent and methodical” terrorist Omar Mateen. Mental images engraved into eternally painful emotions and memories of survivors and families of victims. Six years later, the forty-nine people killed that night still live in the private recollections of those who continue to suffer and fend for themselves as the media moves on.
These days, Jeannette Feliciano is back in the spotlight to tell her survivor’s story of strength and vulnerability through an intimate vérité documentary “Jeannette,” directed by acclaimed filmmaker Maris Curran. A story about survival in which life keeps throwing curveballs. The raw, heartfelt, and intimate portrait of Jeannette’s life post-trauma premiering at the San Francisco International Film Festival revolves around the question: In the wake of tragedy, how do we move toward wholeness?
During our interview, Jeannette is upbeat, dressed in black with her hair tied in a sleek ponytail.
—How do you look at that night at Pulse now that you’ve made the documentary “Jeannette” and six years after the fact? I asked.