An intimate look into one of the world’s biggest and busiest maternity hospitals is coming to theaters. A press release announced that FilmRise has acquired North American distribution rights to Ramona S. Diaz’s documentary “Motherland” from Dogwoof. A theatrical release is planned for this summer via The Film Collaborative, and if you can’t catch the award-winning film at your local theater, you’re in luck. “Motherland” will make its TV premiere on PBS’ “POV” this fall.
Filmed at the The Jose Fabella Hospital in the Philippines, the doc “follows three women as they navigate through the severe conditions of giving birth there — from jam-packed delivery rooms to overflowing corridors where babies are misplaced and then found,” its official synopsis details. “With a watchful, cinema verité eye, Diaz guides us through this fascinating yet unstable world.”
“Motherland” made its world premiere at Sundance earlier this year. Diaz took home the the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Commanding Vision. The film also screened at the Berlinale.
“My job as a filmmaker is to introduce audiences to people and places that they would otherwise not encounter, to create empathy toward characters they wouldn’t normally meet in their daily lives,” Diaz told us in the days leading up to Sundance. “And rather than think of the mothers — and fathers — in the film as ‘the other,’ I want the audience to feel a universal kinship with the folks they meet on screen. So as they leave the theater, I want them to be thinking of their own lives in relation to the people they just encountered on the screen, and find common ground.”
“We’re thrilled to begin sharing ‘Motherland’ with viewers across myriad platforms throughout the year,” said Danny Fisher, CEO of FilmRise. “Veteran filmmaker Ramona S. Diaz provides an intimate look into a turbulent yet hopeful environment and does so with a tender realness that I’m certain will resonate with audiences.”
Diaz added, “I’m very much looking forward to partnering with FilmRise on the release of our film after successful premieres at festivals both in the U.S. and abroad. We feel strongly that the film will strike a chord with viewers, all the more so in today’s political and cultural climate.”
The director’s previous credits include “Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey,” “Imelda,” and “Spirits Rising.”
