Never Rarely Sometimes Always, filmed at Planned Parenthood of Greater New York, is the 1st feature film that shows the impact of state restriction on someone’s ability to access safe, legal abortion. We worked with the cast and crew to ensure that the film depicted abortion in an authentic and medically accurate way. We’re proud to work with writers and filmmakers to ensure the accuracy of their storylines on sexual and reproductive health issues, including safe, legal abortion.
This week, as we commemorate the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the right to access abortion has never been more uncertain. Our new short film with We Testify, “Ours To Tell,” shows us the world we could have — one where all people are able to access the health care they want, need, and deserve — with compassion and support. That’s the future we’re fighting for.
It’s a wonderful winter here and a perfect start to this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The festival received over 1,400 submissions and only 112 of them are features that were selected to be shown. For this year, 10 teens from all three of Planned Parenthood’s Teen Council’s are participating in the festival. These teens will be watching films, conducting interviews, participating in panel discussions, and blogging about it all! This year the following films will be blogged about:
The Infiltrators
SHARE
Gaza
This Is Personal
Maiden
Toni Morrison: The Pieces I am
Ask Dr. Ruth
Pahokee
Words From A Bear
Midnight Traveler Knock Down the House
Birth of The Cool
Some teens bloggers will also the chance to participate in the Vr cinematic experience that is featured in this year’s festival. These 10 teens come from a wide array of high schools within the Valley and Park City. To learn more about this year’s phenomenal group of teens, via the “Meet the Team” page on the website. Another way to keep up with bloggers is to follow the tumblr page or look for links on any PPAU website!
Utah Teens Talk Film bloggers are members of Planned Parenthood Association of Utah’s Teen Council. They work as peer sex educators in their schools and communities. As members of the blogging team, teens participate in the Damn These Heels Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival, watch independent films, and interview filmmakers, advocates, and writers from all over the world. They strive to understand how film can promote just and humane sexual attitudes and policies, challenge current perspectives, and spark new ideas—and you can follow along with their journey here. Check out their reviews from this year’s festivals!
When I reach out to touch the world, to speak out,
to break apart the fear & silence
that was given to me
I am not alone.
An UNSTOPPABLE movement.
As part of our #WeAreUNSTOPPABLE ART project, filmmaker Shruti Ganguly set the words of poet Rachel Eliza Griffiths to music and dance by choreographer Francesca Harper. “This piece shows that while someone may seem alone in this struggle, it is their resilience, determination and love that can change the hearts and minds of even one person, and soon another, and then another… and so on,” says Ganguly. “That’s what starts a movement.”
Check out more UNSTOPPABLE artists today: UnstoppableNow.org/Manifesto
Who is Lucia? We don’t really know. We know she works at a summer camp, we know she can do a pretty good fake Southern accent, and we know she had a long drive to get where she’s going. We know she wants an abortion, but we don’t know why. We see her touch arms briefly with the woman next to her in the waiting room. We see—and feel—her exasperation as she’s told she must wait twenty-four hours and undergo an ultrasound before her procedure.
We see her go to a bar and drink a beer, and our first reaction is horror—before we remember that it doesn’t matter. We see her race out without paying, and we grow frustrated with her.
Speaking with filmmaker Anu Valia, I quickly realized that this frustration with Lucia was deliberate. We are not supposed to like her. The film does not apologize for its content, or for its character or its portrayal of her. Its content is completely medically accurate and aligned with actual patient experiences, because the script was meticulously checked by Planned Parenthood’s arts and entertainment department. It illustrates a blunt truth: no matter who you are, no matter what you’ve done, no matter how much people like or dislike you, you still deserve control over your body.
I had a chance to meet the amazing filmmaker, Anu Valia, along with Summit and Wasatch County Teen Council member Teia Swan (right). Congratulations to Lucia: Before and After for winning the Short Film Jury Award: U.S Fiction!
Currently in America, anything related to abortion is controversy. People are throwing about hateful and destructive rhetoric like it’s a football, when in fact these words bear much more similarity to a grenade. If we want to win this battle to preserve access to reproductive healthcare, we have no chance to take a break and stop fighting.
Of all the incredible experiences and films at the Sundance Film Festival this year, one of the most powerful and relevant is Across the Line. This is a virtual reality experiences which gives viewers the opportunity to view and be immersed in the event of having an abortion. The film doesn’t deal with much of the medical aspect of the procedure, but rather the politics of abortion.
While in this reality, you are putting on Christina’s shoes to obtain an abortion. You will witness the comfort of a kind physician, the importance of a supportive friend, and the cruelty that people spread to people trying to access basic health services. Many women who experience this type of harassment outside of health clinics are not even trying to procure an abortion. They are trying to get a pap smear or access contraception.
Utah Teens Talk Film bloggers are members of Planned Parenthood Association of Utah’s Teen Council. They are trained to teach about human sexuality and healthy decision making. During the 2016 Sundance Film Festival teen bloggers will be watching independent films and interviewing filmmakers, advocates, and writers with the goal of understanding how film can promote just and humane sexual attitudes and policies.
Our new favorite flick, Obvious Child, talks about abortion with frankness, humor, and empathy while exploring a subject we rarely see on the big screen. Check here for screenings near you.
