ASWM Conference May 5-6, Syracuse NY
Registration Links and Conference information here
Film Screening Friday May 5 at 7:30 PM, Crowne Plaza Conference Center
Give Light (directed by Steph Smith): Indigenous midwives from five continents relate their life stories and discuss the joys and challenges of their profession, interwoven with testimony from medical anthropologists, historians and Western midwives and doulas. These midwives describe the 800 BC history of water births and other sacred practices that support childbirth. The film also looks at the state of childbirth around the world and explores these fundamental questions: Are Indigenous midwifery traditions dying out due to the persuasions of modern medical treatments? Could a revival of midwifery actually offer better birth outcomes and more meaningful rites of passage in many parts of the world? The film crosses ethnic and national barriers to tell a universal story on how the midwife upholds women’s ability to “GIVE LIGHT,” in water.
“In the face of the widespread medicalization of birth, Give Light documents the knowledge and practices of indigenous midwives across the globe. Featuring interviews with birth workers in North and South America, Asia, Europe, and Africa, the film provides a rarely seen window into how these midwives carry their profession forward, in some cases against great institutional pressures. Give Light also includes data and scholarly research illustrating the validity and effectiveness of traditional midwifery. As such, it makes for an extremely effective and engaging text for educating about the history of midwifery, the medicalization of birth, and alternative birthing possibilities.” – Clare Daniel, PhD, author of Mediating Morality: The Politics of Teen Pregnancy in the Post-Welfare Era
Steph Smith, filmmaker based in New Orleans, works as an independent director, cinematographer, and editor. In October 2020, Steph was accepted into the Sundance Co//ab with the emphasis on GIVE LIGHT. Her work has been invited to screen in Spain, France, Greece, Mexico, Sweden, England, Greece, South Africa, Nigeria, Mozambique, Portugal, Philippines, and USA. The Art Council of New Orleans commissioned her to produce a film for their community arts awards. Since 2015, her film work has been exhibited: at the Female Filmmakers Festival, Birth Justice Film Fest, Women’s Center for Healing: Women in the World’s Cultures, and at the NOLA Feminist Short Film Festival at Loyola University, and more. Steph also teaches Kundalini Yoga, and has brought yoga to youth in a local detention center.
We welcome non-attendees to join us for this film screening and conversation with filmmaker Steph Smith, Miigam’agan and others. Purchase ticket here.
You must be logged in to post a comment.