Determined not to become another statistic of the Black maternal health crisis, one couple chooses the rare option of hiring an experienced midwife and doula and planning to give birth at home, away from the hospital and all of its interventions. But the baby has other plans, and despite all of the team’s efforts, they end up transferring to the hospital at the eleventh hour. This is the story of the birth of one baby, with its family caught between two very different approaches to childbirth.
Summary info for schedule – will be hidden on film page
Born for This
70.5-minutes
Determined not to become another statistic of the Black maternal health crisis, one couple chooses the rare option of hiring an experienced midwife and doula and planning to give birth at home, away from the hospital and all of its interventions. But the baby has other plans, and despite all of the team's efforts, they end up transferring to the hospital at the eleventh hour. This is the story of the birth of one baby, with its family caught between two very different approaches to childbirth.
Screening day / time
- Oct 21 (Sat): Block 2 - 11:10am
- Oct 26-29: Virtual Encore
Born for This
Born for This
Filmmaker Notes:
I nearly lost my own life during childbirth in December, 2018. One minute I was envisioning a home birth; the next I was being induced with suspected preeclampsia. I labored for 36 hours with numerous interventions, organ failure, and a late diagnosis before needing life-saving blood transfusions and an emergency C-section. I nearly lost my life and my baby’s, and was rushed into surgery alone knowing I may never meet my child. It was traumatic, and as I settled into motherhood and recovery, I learned how unnecessarily common my experience was. Yet I am a white woman living a life of relative privilege in the Bay Area, California, at the epicenter of medicine and technology, under dual care from a midwife and obstetrician and with continuous support of a doula who advocated for me, and so I survived. I hope that the lessons we stand to learn by questioning our society’s treatment of women, investigating our implicit biases, and celebrating the work of the affected communities and allies who are leading the change, will help to propel birth equity and reproductive justice globally, not just in the U.S. I spent the past four years since my birth experience researching this topic, learning, networking, and collaborating directly with the communities featured in the film.
My relationships with the participants developed in Spring of 2022. I began collaborating with Davon Crawford and Bria Bailey, doulas and student midwives, and they introduced me to their mentors, who also agreed to collaborate. The providers introduced me to Janeé and Josh, and we had extensive conversations and built a rapport and friendship. They invited me to tell their story and trusted me completely. It is not a trust that I take lightly, particularly as a white director telling an intimate story about and with Black participants. My relationships with the participants are very important to me, and we continue to collaborate and communicate almost daily – a pop-up village and extended family; the kind that every birthing person deserves.
Where to Watch
Festival screenings
Screening Day / Time
- Oct 21 (Sat): Block 2 - 11:10am
- Oct 26-29: Virtual Encore
