Surrogacy is fast becoming one of the major issues of the 21st century—celebrities and everyday people are increasingly using surrogates to build their families. But the practice is fraught with complex implications for women, children, and families. What is the impact on the women who serve as surrogates and on the children who are born from surrogacy? In what ways might money complicate things? What about altruistic surrogacy done for a family member or close friend? Is surrogacy a beautiful, loving act or does it simply degrade pregnancy to a service and a baby to a product? Can we find a middle ground? Should we even look for one?
From The Center for Bioethics and Culture, producers of the award-winning Eggsploitation (2010, 2013), and Anonymous Father’s Day (2011), Breeders: A Subclass of Women? explores this important issue, talking with surrogates, physicians, psychologists, and activists across the political and ideological spectrum.
The CHOICE! Film Festival supports all mothers in their choices.
You can RSVP on Facebook.
Why Not Home? will be shown as part of the CHOICE! A Birth and Baby Film Festival on Saturday, November 12, 2016 at 19:00 at St. Paul’s university (223 Main Street). Join us at 18:00 for Great Sex, Great Birth pre-show by Nancy Salgueiro who will be discussing how the neurology and physiological responses in sex and birth are paralleled, how we can create the conditions for physiological birth by being aware of the conditions that allow for sexual arousal, the factors that can interfere with both physiological responses, and how practicing great sex can be used as preparation for childbirth.
Why Not Home? tells the stories of doctors, nurses, and midwives who have attended hundreds of hospital births, yet chose to have their children at home. How did these women with inside knowledge of birth evaluate the evidence and make their decisions? Through the experiences of these women, both at home and in the hospital, we gain unique insights into risk, safety, and the experience of childbirth in America.
The CHOICE! Film Festival supports all mothers in their choices.
You can RSVP on Facebook.
Trial of Labor will be shown as part of the CHOICE! A Birth and Baby Film Festival on Saturday, February 20, 2016 at 19:00 at St. Paul’s university (223 Main Street). Join us at 18:00 for Birth Story Healing with Jennifer Gillean who will be discussing important aspects to consider when listening and supporting mothers who have had difficult or disappointing births. There is a community discussion panel after the film.
Trial of Labor follows a small group of pregnant women and their journeys back to trusting themselves and their bodies after previous births ended in unplanned surgery. Each woman has chosen to plan a vaginal birth after Cesarean, and the uncertainty of their imminent births evokes in each a personal reckoning: finding a path through unresolved feelings and difficult decisions to the ultimate, unpredictable event of childbirth.
The Choice! Film Festival supports all mothers in their choices.
You can RSVP on Facebook.
“Doulas” and “Heads Up!” double feature will be shown as part of the CHOICE! A Birth and Baby Film Festival on Saturday, February 20, 2016 at 19:00 at St. Paul’s university (223 Main Street). Join us at 18:00 for Doula Meet and Greet to learn more about doulas, ask them questions, and for your chance to WIN CASH that goes towards a doula to support you during labour, birth and beyond. There is a community discussion panel after the film.
Doulas
This documentary explores the role of birth doulas both inside and outside of the birth room. Explaining the logistics and the intricacies of doula care, it educates expectant parents while celebrating the process of supported birth. It shows a wide variety of labors and births: in the water, in bed, in the operating room, without pain medication, with epidurals and by cesarean.
Heads Up
A breech baby is born nearly every four minutes in the United States. Until the year 2000, a woman could opt to birth her breech baby vaginally or via surgery. Then, in 2001, a study came out that took away one of those options. The study was later found to be faulty, but the damage was already done–vaginal breech birth was almost completely eliminated from medical school training and from delivery rooms.
Heads Up features several women confronted with the disappearance of this option for their breech babies. Among others, actress Morena Baccarin and holistic living personality Kimberly Van Der Beek struggle to find providers who will attend them in a vaginal breech birth–all under the pressure of their imminent due dates. Through their personal accounts and the perspectives of medical professionals, Heads Up explores this widely misunderstood subject and the need to restore this lost art and lost option.
The Choice! Film Festival supports all mothers in their choices.
You can RSVP on Facebook.
The Tree and the Nest will be shown in St. Paul University’s Amphitheatre on November 20, 2015.
“Are women losing the ability to give birth on their own? This is what the rising rates of caesarean section and obstetrical interventions around the world seem to suggest …When the focus is on respecting the woman and nature, a birth becomes an awe-inspiring, poetic and empowering moment for the whole family. ALL individuals are born. And so by extension, it is a seminal moment for all humanity.” Get more information on the CHOICE film festival site.
Beautiful Births will be shown as part of the CHOICE! A Birth and Baby Film Festival on Saturday, February 28, 2015 at 19:00 at St. Paul’s university (223 Main Street). Join us at 18:00 for an interactive pre-show with Zoia Nikolova. She will demonstrate and we will practice excerpts from the film “Dancing for Birth”. We will learn moves such as “Powerful Woman”, “Birth Goddess”, “Dilation Gyration”, and “Rock the Baby”. This is a great pre-show if you’re pregnant now, or plan to be, or if you provide care to pregnant women. There is a community discussion panel after the film.
To open the 2015 season, CHOICE! has selected Beautiful Births – a film about the beauty of childbirth, with genuine conversational dialogue and emotional appeal. This inspiring film explores the Midwifery Model of Care. It also shows what a birth centre is and what it is not. Beautiful Births is a must-see for all women of child-bearing age interested in pregnancy and childbirth, regardless of where or with whom they choose to give birth.
The Choice! Film Festival supports all mothers in their choices.
You can RSVP on Facebook.
The Milky Way will be shown as part of the Choice! A Birth and Baby Film Festival on Friday, November 21, 2014 at 19:00 at St. Paul’s university. There is a presentation by Gisèle Gobeil before the film at 18:15 and a discussion panel afterwards.
“The Milky Way is a documentary exposé about Breastfeeding in America. Our mission is to restore the Phenomenon of the Nursing Mother to the cultural landscape of America.”
In the most successful ad campaign in history, formula companies convinced mothers to trade in their breasts for bottles, and the baby bottle swiftly became the most recognizable symbol of infancy. The phenomenon of the nursing mother has all but disappeared from our cultural landscape as the sexual breast supplanted the mothering breast. The simple act of nursing a baby engenders a plethora of reactions from society, especially when done in public.
A Mother is Born will be shown as part of the Choice! A Birth and Baby Film Festival on Friday, February 21, 2014 at 19:00 at St. Paul’s university. There is a presentation by Louise Hayden before the film – Returning to Wise Woman Ways, at 18:15, and a discussion panel afterwards.
A Mother is Born is a documentary created by Birthing Babies Together.
“We are a group of three medical students from the University of Alberta (U of A) who have come together to create an educational documentary about woman-centered care that focuses on the various birthing options available for low-risk obstetrics. Our mission is to bridge the gap between doulas, midwives, nurses and physicians with a focus on interprofessional education. We want to discover where common ground exists. ”
“Our goal was to create a film that was respectful, balanced and evidence based. Instead of furthering the divide, we wanted to promote collaboration. One of the biggest goals of our film is intended to foster respect for the contributions of all disciplines. ”
Friday, November 15th
Amphitheatre, Saint Paul University (223 Main Street)
6:00 pm – Pre-show Presentation by Jennifer Boyes-Manseau: Birthing Celebrations 7:00 pm – Due to unforseen circumstances we are unable to screen Birth Rites this evening.
As a substitute, we will be screening Laboring Under an Illusion. 8:15 pm – Community Discussion Panel
Breast is Best, a prize-winning film from Norway, is now the most extensive film on mother baby friendly practices, including breastfeeding. Thirty three different topics are covered in separate chapters. This is the film used in more than 50 countries to promote the WHO/UNICEF Ten Steps program.
