rePRO Film Festival has unveiled its inaugural lineup. Dedicated to exploring “women’s reproductive healthcare, awareness, advocacy, and bodily integrity in America,” the five-day virtual fest will take place online from August 12-16, 2020. A press release confirmed the news.

The fest includes features, short films, and themed conversations addressing topics such as healthcare access, fertility, pregnancy, sexual education, abortion, and issues related to the gender spectrum. These conversations are “designed to spotlight the creators who dare to tell stories about women’s reproductive rights, and to showcase courageous advocators, [and] will be available online for free globally.”

All of the features set to screen are helmed or co-helmed by women, and all filmmakers, including shorts filmmakers, are being paid to screen their films.

“Belly of the Beast” will kick off the fest. Directed by Erika Cohn, the doc sees women inside the California penal system working with women on the outside to uncover systematic forced sterilization of countless prisoners. Other feature docs in the slate include Maria Finitzo’s “The Dilemma of Desire” and Jan Haaken’s “Our Bodies Our Doctors.” The former is an exploration of female sexual desire that aims to give women the tools to talk about their desire without shame and embarrassment, and the latter examines what it means to be an abortion provider today.

The festival will present a special ChangemakeHER Award in recognition of “an exceptional individual who has provided significant contribution towards the fight for women’s reproductive healthcare, including education, awareness, and activism.” This year’s recipient will be announced at a later date.

A project of the Wichita and Cleveland based non-profit film series mama.film, rePRO Film Festival was founded by Mallory Martin, Lela Meadow-Conner, and Debby Samples.

“Story-driven film is a hugely important tool in modern culture — it helps us define the world we live in and creates empathy for those we relate to, and those we don’t understand,” said the mama.film founders. “The three of us have young children and want them to grow up in a world where they and their peers have access to fundamental reproductive rights and freedoms, and we will advocate for that in any way we can, especially before this November’s election. Without conversation and awareness, we cannot nurture equality and change, and we cannot expect future generations to do so,” they emphasized. “Right now, this is a conversation without an expiration date. But through the incredible work of so many activists we have met along the rePRO journey, we are confident someday the fight will end.”

Tickets are available online at repromamafilm.org. Tickets are all pay-what-you-can ($5, $10, or $15) with a limited number of complimentary vouchers available upon request to ensure access for all.

The pay-what-you-can film ticket proceeds for films at the festival will be converted to donations to be split evenly among five beneficiary non-profit organizations: SisterSong, Endometriosis Foundation of America, Center for Reproductive Rights, URGE, and Trust Women.

Check out rePRO film festival’s complete program below.

Disclaimer: Women Together — a partnership of Women and Hollywood and Together Films — is consulting on this festival.

DAY 1 – ‘rePRO JUSTICE FOR WOMEN OF COLOR’
rePRO examines reproductive healthcare injustices faced by women of color.

FEATURE FILM

BELLY OF THE BEAST (USA) – OPENING NIGHT FILM
Directed by Erika Cohn / Documentary
When a courageous young woman and a radical lawyer discover a pattern of illegal involuntary sterilizations in California’s women’s prison system, they take to the courtroom to wage a near-impossible battle against the Department of Corrections. With a growing team of investigators inside prison working with colleagues on the outside, they uncover a series of statewide crimes – from dangerously inadequate health care to sexual assault to coercive sterilizations – primarily targeting women of color. But no one believes them. This shocking legal drama captured over seven years features extraordinary access and intimate accounts from currently and formerly incarcerated women, demanding our attention to a shameful and ongoing legacy of eugenics and reproductive injustice in the United States.

SHORT FILM PROGRAM – rePRO JUSTICE FOR WOMEN OF COLOR

TOXIC: A BLACK WOMAN’S STORY (USA)
Directed by Devon Collins / Narrative
Peer into the world of the film’s lead protagonist, Nina. An elite lawyer, loyal wife, and loving mother of a teen boy, Nina is navigating life (and a pregnancy) to the best of her ability. But sometimes the forces on a woman – especially a black woman – can be too much to bear.

BLACK WOMEN FOR WELLNESS (WORK-IN-PROGRESS) (USA)
Directed by Sue-Ellen Chitunya / Documentary
Black Women For Wellness is a non-profit organization located in Leimert Park, a neighborhood in the South Los Angeles region of Los Angeles. The organization works diligently to serve the community, focusing on the health and well-being of Black women and girls through their advocacy work and a Comprehensive Sex Education program called Get Smart Before You Get Sexy.

CONVERSATIONS

Curated call-to-action conversations with filmmakers, experts and relevant non-profit representatives for the day will include:

• rePRO JUSTICE FOR WOMEN OF COLOR – a conversation to amplify the reproductive healthcare injustices faced by women of color
• ILLEGAL STERILIZATION – a conversation to expose the history of illegal sterilization in America

FEATURE FILM

ENDO WHAT? (USA)
Directed by Shannon Cohn / Documentary
Endometriosis or “endo” is the most common, devastating disease that most people have never heard of. It affects 1 in 10 girls and women. That’s approximately 176,000,000 people on the planet. Despite its prevalence, women see an average of 8 doctors for 10 years before diagnosis. During that time, many are forced to miss school, leave careers they love, abandon dreams of having children and watch their personal relationships suffer. They’re often told incorrectly by doctors that pregnancy & hysterectomy are cures and that pain is normal or in their heads. After diagnosis, they’re usually prescribed an array of drugs & undergo multiple, ineffective surgeries. It’s time to break that cycle. It’s time for a new normal that doesn’t mean multiple doctors, drugs, surgeries, misdiagnoses and years of pain. The only film of its kind, Endo What? gives an accurate, up-to-date base of knowledge straight from the experts. It’s a film to educate & put power where it belongs – in the hands of girls & women.

SHORT FILM PROGRAM – BELIEVE ME, IT’S MY BODY

TIGHTLY WOUND (USA/CHILE)
Directed by Shelby Hadden / Animated Documentary
A woman recounts her experience living with chronic pelvic pain – how health professionals have failed her, men have rejected her, and shame, anger, and hatred have plagued her body.

END-O (UK)
Directed by Alice Seabright / Narrative
Jaq wants to have sex. But her Endometriosis is out to sabotage her: with chronic pain and unpredictable bleeding – at the very worst time!

BIRTH CONTROL YOUR OWN ADVENTURE (USA)
Directed by Sindha Agha / Animated Documentary
In this inventive self-portrait, filmmaker Sindha Agha features an unlikely cast of sinister Icelandic sheep, clumsy endives and an OB-GYN who talks with the voice of a robot to chronicle the epic saga of her struggle with the side effects of birth control medication.

CONVERSATIONS
Curated call-to-action conversations with filmmakers, experts and relevant non-profit representatives for the day will include:

• BELIEVE ME, IT’S MY BODY – a conversation to empower women to demand adequate services from their healthcare providers
• ENDOMETRIOSIS 101 – a conversation to educate both women and the medical community about the need for accurate diagnosis of endometriosis

FEATURE FILM

PERSONHOOD (USA)
Directed by Jo Ardinger / Documentary
The film follows the story of Tammy Loertscher, a rural Wisconsin woman who was forcibly detained after revealing her history of depression and occasional drug use during a prenatal appointment. Her fetus was given an attorney, while the courts denied Loertscher her constitutional rights and sent her to jail. This timely documentary tracks the rise of the “fetal personhood” movement and reveals a growing system of laws in America that criminalize and police pregnant people – especially lower income women and women of color. At the intersection of the erosion of women’s rights, the war on drugs, and mass incarceration, Loertscher’s experience reveals the dangerous ripple effects of anti-choice policies on women who have no intention of ending their pregnancies.

SHORT FILM PROGRAM – WHEN PREGNANCY GETS COMPLICATED

AVALANCHE (USA)
Directed by Heather Jack / Narrative
Underemployed and reeling from a recent miscarriage, comedy writer Jo McDowell’s life is getting less funny by the minute. When she lands a meeting that could turn it all around, she has to make a decision: tell the truth or go for the laugh? A poignant comedy based on a true story.

EGG DAY (USA)
Directed by Grasie Mercedes / Narrative
Real-life husband and wife duo, Damien Fahey and Grasie Mercedes, co-write and star in EGG DAY. Based on their real-life experience, EGG DAY is a dark comedy short about the egg retrieval process during a couple’s IVF.

MY AMERICAN SURROGATE (USA/CHINA)
Directed by Leslie Tai / Documentary
China’s rich and infertile are flocking to Southern California to hire American surrogates to have their babies for them. Qiqi is a Chinese surrogacy broker who is pursuing her American Dream by matching Chinese parents-to-be and American wombs. One day, Qiqi decides to have a baby via American surrogate herself.

STAND STILL (UK)
Directed by Isabella Wing-Davey / Narrative
The darkness of postnatal depression threatens to overwhelm Susannah, but a chance encounter with Rupa might be the help she needs.

CONVERSATIONS
Curated call-to-action conversations with filmmakers, experts and relevant non-profit representatives for the day will include:

• WHEN PREGNANCY GETS COMPLICATED – a conversation to cancel the shame and embrace the struggles that often come with pregnancy and the path to get there
• POSTPARTUM MENTAL HEALTH – a conversation to talk openly and honestly about postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, and postpartum psychosis
• POLICING PREGNANCY – a conversation that examines the growing system of laws that infringes on a pregnant woman’s bodily autonomy

• LET’S TALK ABOUT IT – a conversation to eradicate the stigmas around the uterus, period
• GENDER SPECTRUM LENS – a conversation to demand equity in healthcare services for people of all genders
• GET CLITERATE – a conversation to celebrate the power of the clitoris and shatter the myths around female sexuality

• rePRO Representation in Media Keynote on the entertainment industry’s influence over societal narratives, particularly the right to choose whether to continue a pregnancy – presented by lecturer, former practicing attorney, author and Skadden fellow Dr. Kathleen Tarr
• ACCESS TO ABORTION CARE – a conversation that brings to light current laws and policies prohibiting both abortion providers from offering care and the people who need access to it
• In-conversation event with the recipient of the ‘ChangemakeHER Award’