Sign up via email or check in on the 15th of each month for the latest volume, film, conversation, and links to organizations we’re loving and things we’re learning about.
Welcome to the rePROFilm Periodical – featuring a mission-aligned short film of the month and accompanying podcast conversation. The Periodical is generously underwritten so that our monthly curation is FREE and available for anyone to take part in.
VOLUME 7, PART 1:
Reproductive justice means supporting parents too.
We didn’t plan to theme a rePRO issue around parenthood just as we’re losing access to abortion in many parts of the country. But in a way it makes sense, because choosing parenthood is part of a reproductive justice framework. Justice says economic inequality should not be a barrier to parenthood, just as there should not be barriers to abortion care. Justice says new parents deserve support, just like those who choose not to have children.
These are rights that many people enjoy worldwide. It is not an impossibility. We all deserve to live in a world where we are both safe and free.
Our July short film selection is “Placenta Pâté,” a humorous take on the isolation of new parenthood. In this month’s episode of the rePRO Periodical podcast, director Tia Salisbury talks about how she wanted to make a love letter to her former self, a woman who was going through it as a new mother.
More love letters to ourselves, please. And a few laughs, too.
xox, Team rePRO
VOLUME 7, PART 2:
Shout Out to New Parents Everywhere
Bringing new life into the world is an important but often isolating enterprise, even with a supportive partner. Writer/director Tia Salisbury uses “gross-out” comedy to explore the occasional agony of new parenthood in “Placenta Pâte,” our short film this month.
But why does the placenta get such a bad rap when it’s such a fascinating part of the birth process? (Scroll down for a tour!) We’d love to hear from you if you’ve consumed placenta in any form and if you feel it was helpful during your postpartum journey.
Solidarity to all the new parents out there. 💪 We’re cheering you on as you make the choices that best support your your health and sanity, placenta or no placenta.
XO,
Team rePRO
VOLUME 7, PART 3:
A rePROFilm Calendar Refresh
Blame it on the hormones — we’re shifting our schedule a bit!
Beginning Sept. 1, rePROFilm will release a new short film + related content on the first of the month rather than the 15th. We’ll continue to send an update, which will hit your inboxes mid-month.
We are feeling rejuvenated by the Kansas abortion referendum that took place Aug. 2. In spectacular fashion, anti-abortion activists lost the fight to remove the constitutional right to abortion from the state’s constitution. Though the result was expected to be close, the pro-choice side won by 18 percentage points. Kansas saw an enormous uptick in voter registration, and 70% of new registered votes in July were women.
Hundreds if not thousands of people inside and outside of Kansas knocked on doors, wrote postcards to voters, organized marches, and donated money to the “vote no” effort. We thank each and every one of you from the bottom of our hearts.
A favorable outcome after so much collective action is one kind of pleasure, which will be the theme of our September issue. We’re feeling so good that we’re wondering why we don’t talk more about how genuinely pleasurable it can be to work towards justice.
Does civic engagement make you feel good? How could you find more pleasure in your own individual efforts to change your community for better? Let us know at info@reprofilm.org.
xo
Team rePROFilm
Listen: The Pleasure Playlist
Whether you’re soaking up the last bits of summer, or enjoying some peace and quiet as your kids head back to school, get in the mood for our upcoming pleasure-themed periodical by queueing up the rePROFilm Pleasure playlist on Spotify – curated by our team and spanning the decades!
400 Female writers & showrunners call on major studios to take action to protect workers in anti-abortion states
Late last month, writers and showrunners including Ava DuVernay, Shonda Rhimes, Amy Schumer, Issa Rae and Mindy Kaling sent a letter to the heads of major studios expressing their concerns about the increasingly limited access to abortion in many states and asking studios to take specific actions to protect their employees. Since then, hundreds more men in the industry co-signed the letter and the studios issued a lukewarm response. We’ll be watching as this story develops.
(Deadline)
With profound vote on reproductive rights, RePROFilm tells stories that connect and shake us
“There are huge numbers of people here with convictions about a woman’s right to choose,” Meadow Connor said. “And there’s something energizing about doing creative work in a place where folks don’t just take that for granted. It’s inspiring to see the outcry for support.” Thanks to Whitni Carlson for this terrific story about rePROFilm!
Through film and conversation, rePRO advocates for reproductive health, justice, and bodily autonomy. We lift intersectional issues, using the power of storytelling as a catalyst for knowledge, intention, and action.
