Reproductive rights are under attack across the country. And while women throughout Hollywood are making their own efforts to defend access to safe abortion nationwide, there is still work to be done by the laypeople on the ground. We can ramp up our political involvement, contribute to defense funds, and organize protests. We can call our representatives, volunteer at our local Planned Parenthood offices, and reach out to the women who have been affected by the abortion bans that have been voted into law in several states. On a micro level, we can support the artistic efforts of women who are contributing to the conversation surrounding reproductive rights — normalizing abortion, telling women’s stories, and educating folks about the history of the fight for reproductive justice.
Our most recent VOD and web series picks take an active role in this conversation. These women-made projects all tell the human stories behind abortion in unique ways. Anu Valia’s short film “Lucia, Before and After” follows a woman who has to wait out Texas’ mandated 24-hour waiting period before she is able to undergo an abortion. Penny Lane’s documentary short “The Abortion Diaries” captures a dinner party of 12 women from all walks of life who have had abortions as they talk about their varied experiences with the filmmaker. Roni Geva and Margaret Katch’s web series “Ctrl Alt Delete” places an abortion clinic at the center of a workplace comedy, chronicling the everyday escapades of doctors and staff with a comedic touch.
Here are Women and Hollywood’s latest VOD and web series selections.
VOD
“Lucia, Before and After” (Short) – Written and Directed by Anu Valia
“Lucia, Before and After” made quite the debut back in 2017. It won the Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, earned the Vimeo Staff Pick seal, and was an official selection at nearly three dozen film festivals across the globe. But now, it feels more searingly relevant than ever. The film follows Lucia, played by the always stellar Sarah Goldberg (best known for her star turn on “Barry”), as she waits out Texas’ inane 24-hour waiting period for abortions.
Writer-director Anu Valia feels that, although the film’s scope is remarkably intimate, it makes an incisive political statement. “Abortion and women’s reproductive rights is an issue that is so important to me,” Valia told Refinery29. “It’s also important that women aren’t reduced to issues. There’s a full human being behind someone who wants to get an abortion.” We get to know that human being, Lucia, through a series of pastel-hued vignettes that show the moments before and after her abortion.
Valia emphasizes the importance of capturing the entirety of Lucia’s humanity in the film, especially as some viewers may be tempted to define her by her abortion. “Once someone’s turned into an issue, they lose their humanity. They’re just like, ‘This is an abortion story. You are a woman who needs an abortion,'” she told Marmoset. “No, you’re a woman who has a job, loves somebody, is in a fight with someone else, and is really struggling to get her screen door fixed.”
Watch “Lucia, Before and After” on Vimeo.
“The Abortion Diaries” (Documentary Short) – Directed by Penny Lane
A decade before she made the critically acclaimed documentary “Hail Satan?,” filmmaker Penny Lane invited a group of 12 diverse women to her kitchen table to have a conversation. These women came from varied backgrounds, spanning various races, ages, relationship statuses, and professions. The commonality they shared: they had all had abortions. Through interviews interwoven with Lane’s own diary entries, “The Abortion Diaries” explores the myriad reasons for and feelings surrounding getting an abortion.
“The Abortion Diaries” centers women’s voices and experiences in the dialogue around abortion by focusing entirely on personal narratives. Behind closed doors, the women in front of Lane’s camera speak honestly and openly about their experiences, their choices, and their bodies. Though the conceit is simple, it is also profoundly radical. As Lane writes in her diary prior to her own abortion, “It’s not like having an abortion is dinner-party conversation.” So that’s exactly what “The Abortion Diaries” does: turn the procedure into fair game for kitchen table talk.
Just like “Lucia, Before and After,” “The Abortion Diaries” puts human faces to the issue of abortion, emphasizing the personal over the political. Though each woman’s story is different — one woman went to Burger King after her abortion, while another woman recounts the painful and gruesome illegal abortion she was forced to undergo in the years prior to Roe v. Wade. But their experiences are all linked by a common thread: that choice saves lives.
Watch “The Abortion Diaries” on Vimeo.
Web Series
“Ctrl Alt Delete” – Created, Written, and Directed by Roni Geva and Margaret Katch
When we think of the setting of a workplace comedy, we may think of a mid-size paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania or the Parks and Recreation department of Pawnee, Indiana. The last place one might expect a workplace comedy to be set is in an abortion clinic. But that’s just where the characters of the Vimeo web series “Ctrl Alt Delete” attend work every day, providing health care for countless women. And, once again, yes — it’s a comedy.
By normalizing the setting of the abortion clinic, creators Roni Geva and Margaret Katch hope to normalize the procedure itself. The show’s first season was met with critical acclaim, earning an Emmy Award nomination as well as several festival screenings and awards. The first season was based on real interviews with women who have had abortions. Now, “Ctrl Alt Delete” is back and better than ever with its second season. “We’ve already seen that our show can be an instrument of change,” say Geva and Katch in the new season’s press release. “We’ve had women come up to us at film festivals. We’ve had women reach out over social media. This conversation is so necessary.”
The new season has big names attached, which will hopefully draw an even larger audience to the series. Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated actor Ed Begley, Jr. stars as a veteran doctor at the clinic, while Amy Brenneman of “The Leftovers” and “Judging Amy” is a Consulting Producer on the series. Brenneman admires the series’ comedic tone and feels that “it is high time that stories [about reproductive rights] be told, with all the humor and intelligence they deserve.”
