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This powerful and important block of seven short films explores the complex journey of women trying to assert agency over their own bodies and lives. From deeply personal reflections on the choice to be a mother to defiant expressions of bodily autonomy and identity, each film offers a raw and resonant take on autonomy, choice, and survival in a world that too often tries to silence or control.
Followed by a live panel discussion with filmmakers and advocates on bodily autonomy, storytelling as resistance, and the fight for control over our own narratives.
On June 18th, 2022, I took a test and found out that I was pregnant. Nearly one week later, the Supreme Court reversed the Roe decision ending the Constitutional right to abortion. As my pregnancy began to face critical challenges and the term termination became a very real consideration, my experience lived in parallel with the equally weighted guilt and privilege of living in Maryland, a state that would allow me to make the decision to keep or end my pregnancy. This film is a short, self-reflexive documentary chronicling an autobiographical year in four trimesters through the visceral experience of pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum in a post Roe V. Wade era. With emphasis on reproductive autonomy and the storing and processing of trauma in the body, the film urges viewers to engage in the critical discussion of how we process our own experiences; what we encounter in silence and what we seldom speak truth to. The film guides viewers through a linear year-in-the-life, poetic verite paired with intimate and raw imagery which explores the convergence of digital smartphone applications (apps) and analog super 8mm celluloid film. The merging of these mediums reveals an intimate portrait of the often fragmented romanticization of memory and how we psychologically process our experiences.
- Runtime0:19:31
- LanguageEnglish
- CountryUnited States
- DirectorJena Burchick
- ScreenwriterJena Burchick
- ProducerJena Burchick
- FilmmakerSound Design & Mix: Ana M. Cetina
This powerful and important block of seven short films explores the complex journey of women trying to assert agency over their own bodies and lives. From deeply personal reflections on the choice to be a mother to defiant expressions of bodily autonomy and identity, each film offers a raw and resonant take on autonomy, choice, and survival in a world that too often tries to silence or control.
Followed by a live panel discussion with filmmakers and advocates on bodily autonomy, storytelling as resistance, and the fight for control over our own narratives.
On June 18th, 2022, I took a test and found out that I was pregnant. Nearly one week later, the Supreme Court reversed the Roe decision ending the Constitutional right to abortion. As my pregnancy began to face critical challenges and the term termination became a very real consideration, my experience lived in parallel with the equally weighted guilt and privilege of living in Maryland, a state that would allow me to make the decision to keep or end my pregnancy. This film is a short, self-reflexive documentary chronicling an autobiographical year in four trimesters through the visceral experience of pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum in a post Roe V. Wade era. With emphasis on reproductive autonomy and the storing and processing of trauma in the body, the film urges viewers to engage in the critical discussion of how we process our own experiences; what we encounter in silence and what we seldom speak truth to. The film guides viewers through a linear year-in-the-life, poetic verite paired with intimate and raw imagery which explores the convergence of digital smartphone applications (apps) and analog super 8mm celluloid film. The merging of these mediums reveals an intimate portrait of the often fragmented romanticization of memory and how we psychologically process our experiences.
- Runtime0:19:31
- LanguageEnglish
- CountryUnited States
- DirectorJena Burchick
- ScreenwriterJena Burchick
- ProducerJena Burchick
- FilmmakerSound Design & Mix: Ana M. Cetina