Two more Sundance 2022 selections have found homes. Paula Eiselt and Tonya Lewis Lee’s documentary “Aftershock” and Martika Ramirez Escobar’s drama “Leonor Will Never Die” — which won the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Impact for Change and the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award: Innovative Spirit, respectively — have both landed distribution.
“Aftershock,” which delves into the Black maternal health crisis, was picked up by Onyx Collective and ABC News, according to a press release. It will stream on Hulu in the U.S., Star+ in Latin America, and Disney+ in all other territories.
“Aftershock” shares the stories of Shamony Gibson and Amber Rose Isaac, who both died of preventable childbirth complications. The doc follows their bereaved partners, Omari Maynard and Bruce McIntyre, as they pursue justice, build a movement, and form a bond with other surviving Black fathers. “Their tragic, individual experiences are punctuated with condemning historical context, showing that gynecology has a long-standing history of exploiting and neglecting Black women in America. In the arresting words of mother-to-be Felicia Ellis, ‘A Black woman having a baby is like a Black man at a traffic stop with the police,’” the press release describes.
“We are thrilled to partner with Disney’s Onyx Collective and ABC News to honor and uplift the lives of Shamony Gibson and Amber Rose Isaac,” Eiselt and Lee stated. “We hope audiences will be as inspired and empowered as we are by their families’ trailblazing work to ensure the best birthing outcomes for all Americans.”
“I have had the opportunity to speak with groups of women across the country about women’s health, and in conversation with those women, usually someone would mention the death of a friend, sister, aunt, or cousin from childbirth complications,” Lee told Women and Hollywood. “What emerged to me was the fact that we, as Black women, were talking about the crisis before the general public was aware and before the data proved what we were discussing. I saw the impact on our communities and wanted to give voice to those suffering and to those fighting to improve the outcomes. And I know storytelling is how you change hearts and minds, and make lasting impact.”
Eiselt added, “I was initially drawn to the topic of maternal health due to my own traumatic pregnancy and birth experiences. Then, at the end of 2017, I started to read a slew of investigative articles published by ProPublica about the abysmal rise of U.S. maternal mortality and morbidity, and the racial disparities driving up those numbers.” She continued, “I realized that what I experienced in the maternal health system was not uncommon and that Black women were most profoundly affected. I knew I wanted to help shed light on this crisis by finding the right partner — who I found in Tonya Lewis Lee — to work with to uplift the trailblazing work and lived experiences of the women most affected by the crisis.”
Written and directed by Escobar, “Leonor Will Never Die” will be released in theaters, and eventually on VOD, by Music Box Films later this year, per Variety.
“The film tells the story of Leonor Reyes, once a major player in the Filipino film industry during its ragtag action cinema glory days, but now in her golden years and struggling to pay her bills,” according to the source. “When she reads an advertisement for a screenplay contest, Leonor begins tinkering with an unfinished script about a young man avenging his brother’s murder at the hand of thugs. But after a falling television knocks her unconscious and sends her into a coma, Leonor finds herself inside her incomplete movie, re-writing and editing on the fly in a fantastical bid to complete the film while her body lies in limbo.”
“The dream is to screen ‘Leonor Will Never Die’ in a cinema and it looks like that dream is coming true,” Escobar said of the film’s acquisition. “Thank you, Music Box Films, for giving us screens, both big and small. You make us feel that cinemas are awake and smiling.”
Escobar decided to make “Leonor Will Never Die” when she realized “that out of the hundreds of Filipino action films in the Philippines throughout history, none of them were about an action grandma.” The filmmaker told us, “It’s well known as a macho genre, but I think it is something special to see it through the tender eyes of a woman.”
Other Sundance pics that have found distribution include Lena Dunham’s “Sharp Stick,” Adamma Ebo’s “Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul,” and Phyllis Nagy’s “Call Jane.”
