rePRO Film Periodical Podcast: Recent Episodes
rePRO Periodical Podcast
a Call-to-Action podcast series with filmmakers, storytellers, & advocates. Hosted by Asha Dayha. The rePRO Periodical is FREE to everyone. All you have to do is sign up at reprofilm.org – Every month, we deliver a whole host of rePRO goodies straight to your inbox in a newsletter format, which includes a short film to watch, advocacy and action items, important articles and news, and of course, this series!
Fat activist Allison Graham talks to photographer Shoog McDaniel about what it was like to be on the other side of the lens for the documentary about their life and art practice. “I want people to see the movie and not be able to see a difference between the beautiful spring water and the beautiful Belly. I want it to be one and the same.” — Shoog McDaniel on the Periodical Podcast“My work is about highlighting bodies and lives that are often overlooked by popular society. I enjoy photographing fat bodies, trans bodies, and queer bodies. People with gap-toothed smiles and missing buttons … I strive to connect the viewer of each photo to beauty within themselves, through understanding the brilliancy of diversity, by showing them that there are many ways to be beautiful.” — Shoog McDaniel, from a statement on ShoogMcDaniel.com
Support the Show.
If you haven’t already, subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you will get each episode of the pod straight to your inbox. Learn more at reprofilm.org or at @reprofilm The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!
It’s a very compassionate thing to do to see yourself as you are and not hate yourself.” — Allison Graham on building fat community in her hometown
Advocate and community-builder Allison Graham joins guest host Emily Christensen for a conversation about why she likes the word fat, body positivity vs. fat liberation, and how anti-fat bias shows up in the work she does as a therapist and advocate for survivors of sexual violence.
More recently, Allison has been working to build fat community in Wichita, Kansas, and she discusses her motivation and goals around that work.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of the Periodical Podcast, in which Allison interviews photographer and “How to Carry Water” documentary subject Shoog McDaniel.
**Allison and Emily do mention weight, weight loss and body size over the course of our conversation. We also talked about sexual violence in the context of Allison's work as a therapist, and advocate. If these are sensitive subjects for you, please take care.
Support the Show.
If you haven’t already, subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you will get each episode of the pod straight to your inbox. Learn more at reprofilm.org or at @reprofilm The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!
a special conversation with filmmakers: Aiko Alonso, Haimy Assefa, Jahmil Eady, Susan O’Brien, and Maella & Daniel Fabelo
Hosted by Asha Dahya, Lela Meadow-Conner, and Florencia Varela
Collective Lens x rePROFilm x Peace Is Loud hosted filmmaking teams including filmmakers in both documentary and narrative short film projects as an impact training program. The program equipped filmmakers with frameworks and practices to help them design and implement their own impact campaigns and integrate impact values into their overall filmmaking process.
Support the Show.
If you haven’t already, subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you will get each episode of the pod straight to your inbox. Learn more at reprofilm.org or at @reprofilm The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!
On the Periodical Podcast, triple threat Nyala Moon chats about her “Fleabag”- inspired fourth-wall-breaking short film “How to Date while Trans.”
Like a lot of actors, Moon had to create the content she wanted to star in. When she was in school, pre-”Pose,” she jokes that most roles for trans people were “dead hooker #87” on “Law & Order: SVU.” She realized she couldn’t depend on others to create the kind of characters she wanted to play.
Moon’s “modern stories for trans people,” are populated with characters audiences can relate to. She hopes that helps transform how they feel.
Support the Show.
If you haven’t already, subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you will get each episode of the pod straight to your inbox. Learn more at reprofilm.org or at @reprofilm The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!
“I don't personally believe you can extricate environmental issues from reproductive issues because if a mother is drinking polluted water, what is that going to do to her system? What is that going to do to the system of the baby that she's housing? If she lives in an area where he can see noxious fumes being pumped into the air because of a nearby refinery, what is that going to do to her respiratory system? … If she lives in a food desert, what is that going to do to her strength? All of these things matter.” — Zora Schiltz Rouse
While working as a journalist and editor, Morgan Jerkins noticed a trend: stories and personal essays about the ethics of having a baby in a world marked by rising temperatures and other indicators of climate change. But these stories, she noticed, were always written by white women. “I thought to myself, ‘well they're not the most susceptible to violence, or erasure or lack of care. If anyone should be writing a lot of these stories, it should be black and brown women.’”
That recognition was the genesis of “Black Madonna.” In this inspiring conversation, Jerkins and her co-director Zora Schiltz Rouse discuss how they collaborated in order to bring Aziza’s story to life.
Follow Black Madonna on Instagram:
@black_madonna_bloom | @_morganjerkins | @zoritapepita
Support the show
If you haven’t already, subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you will get each episode of the pod straight to your inbox. Learn more at reprofilm.org or at @reprofilm The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!
Morgan Jerkins and Zora Schiltz Rouse are young filmmakers working at the thematic intersection of environmental and reproductive justice.
Morgan is a New York Times bestselling author and National Magazine Award-winning journalist. Zora is a producer and director who most recently worked on a Ryan Murphy show for FX.
We'll be back with their full interview on April 3 — think of it as a post-film Q&A.
In the meantime, follow them on IG: @_morganjerkins, @zoritapepita
Support the show
If you haven’t already, subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you will get each episode of the pod straight to your inbox. Learn more at reprofilm.org or at @reprofilm The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!
More than a decade ago, Tyomi Morgan noticed no prominent Black women were talking about sexual health. “Instead of complaining about it, I said, ‘You know what? I’m going to enter into this space.” The sexologist and designer of The Cowgirl Workout sits down with Asha Dahya to discuss how our bodies are hardwired for pleasure, the way cultural B.S. interferes with that reality, and how we can reconnect.
“This is part of our humanness. Our sexuality, no matter what it looks like, is a part of our experience. And we get to talk about this … out loud and in the open with medically correct terms.” — Tyomi Morgan
- youtube.com/@GLAMerotica101
- Instagram: @realglamazontyomi
- thecowgirlworkout.com | thepleasureacademy.com
- Periodical Volume 24
Support the show
If you haven’t already, subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you will get each episode of the pod straight to your inbox. Learn more at reprofilm.org or at @reprofilm The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!
“Labor + Justice” is such a tonally wild and imaginative film, we were fascinated to hear a behind-the-scenes conversation about of how it came together. For example, director Sarah Joy Byington researched real-life stories of women charged with crimes after experiencing miscarriages or stillbirths. Their stories inspired her dystopian narrative. On this month’s Periodical Podcast, the director speaks with Asha Dahya about making a shocking-yet-sensitive film. She also shares how motherhood helped shift her own views on abortion and reproductive justice. Ultimately, “Labor + Justice” reflects her own growing understanding of this complex topic, including how it intersects with race, homelessness, and substance abuse.
Support the show
If you haven’t already, subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you will get each episode of the pod straight to your inbox. Learn more at reprofilm.org or at @reprofilm The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!
In this moving conversation, Asha Dahya speaks with writer/director Jahmil Eady about how her own birth story inspired the screenplay for “The Bond.” When Eady was born, her mother was incarcerated. She was shackled during labor, a practice that continues in many U.S. states today. During Eady’s teen years, her mother and other activists successfully advocated for anti-shackling legislation in New York state. Both her mother’s story and Eady’s extensive research informed the short film.
"This film is meant to be a tool not just for talking about anti-shackling and the issues of giving birth behind bars, but it is also a way for people who have shame and and feel stigma to find one another ... It's a tool for connection. The reality is, in a country where millions of people are impacted by the carceral system, there's so many of us out there." — Jahmil Eady
Support the show
If you haven’t already, subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you will get each episode of the pod straight to your inbox. Learn more at reprofilm.org or at @reprofilm The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!
Welcome to this special rePROFilm mini podcast episode, as part of our ‘Films for Thought’ partnership with WISP - a company that specializes in female-focused online reproduction and sexual health treatment. We’ve partnered with WISP to present a repro health movie night on college campuses across the US. At RePROFilm we believe in conversation and filmmaking as a vehicle for sparking change, and I’m so excited to be presenting these interviews with some brilliant filmmakers.
Sindha Agha is the director of ‘Birth Control Your Own Adventure' and is a stop-motion short film featuring Icelandic sheep, clumsy endives and an OB-GYN who talks with the voice of a robot. Sindha uses these creative tools to chronicle her struggle with the side effects of birth control medication, where she was often forced to choose between depression and physical pain.
Sindha is a BAFTA-winning and Emmy-nominated director & writer working in film & TV. "Birth Control Your Own Adventure" was distributed by THE NEW YORK TIMES. This was Sindha’s first film, which also went viral with 12.5 million organic views and was nominated for a 2019 News & Documentary Emmy. Ya know, no big deal! Most recently, Sindha wrote & directed the BAFTA-winning comedy series “How to Be a Person”, shown on CHANNEL 4 in the UK. Her work as a writer, producer and director has been seen on Netflix, BBC, The New Yorker, Vox, The Atlantic, MTV and more.
- Watch Birth Control Your Own Adventure for free: reprofilm.org/wisp-films-for-thought - Learn more about WISP: hellowisp.com
- Sign up for rePROFilm's Periodical: reprofilm.org
Support the show
If you haven’t already, subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you will get each episode of the pod straight to your inbox. Learn more at reprofilm.org or at @reprofilm The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!
Welcome to this special rePROFilm mini podcast episode, as part of our ‘Films for Thought’ partnership with WISP - a company that specializes in female-focused online reproduction and sexual health treatment. We’ve partnered with WISP to present a repro health movie night on college campuses across the US. At RePROFilm we believe in conversation and filmmaking as a vehicle for sparking change, and I’m so excited to be presenting these interviews with some brilliant filmmakers. Aurora Brachman & Jessie Zinn directed the brilliant short film ‘The Gallery that Destroys All Shame’. The film documents a group of women who gather one night in Los Angeles to hear from two sex educators, Pamela and Mychal, who teach the women how to overcome shame and stigma around their bodies, and in particular their vulvas, in a workshop titled ‘Take Back the Speculum’.
Aurora Brachman is an award-winning documentary director and cinematographer. Her films explore narratives of intimate relationships within families and communities. Aurora primarily makes work about the experiences of Black, brown, and Queer people and is committed to collaborative and ethical storytelling.
Jessie Zinn is an award-winning director from Cape Town, South Africa. Her work often stems from ideas surrounding girlhood, and coming-of-age stories.
- Watch The Gallery that Destroys All Shame for free: https://www.reprofilm.org/wisp-films-for-thought - Learn more about WISP: https://hellowisp.com
- Sign up for rePROFilm's Periodical: https://reprofilm.org
Support the show
If you haven’t already, subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you will get each episode of the pod straight to your inbox. Learn more at reprofilm.org or at @reprofilm The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!
I know I’m a badass. I do a lot of good things. But I can’t change the mindset of a racist, 50-year-old white cardiologist. What I can do is teach Black women how to care for themselves and to demand the care they deserve (from their doctors).” — Ricki Fairley
Ricki Fairley survived an aggressive form of breast cancer. Then she turned her attention to advocating for other Black women, who are 41% more likely to die from the disease than their white counterparts. She founded Touch, the Black Breast Cancer Alliance, to address the inequities she discovered in cancer treatment and research, including the relative lack of Black women who participated in clinical trials. Over the past year Touch has registered almost 14,000 Black women in clinical trials — in other words, this woman means business. In this episode of the Periodical Podcast, Fairley speaks with host Asha Dahya about her personal story and how she continues to disrupt the landscape of cancer treatment.
• TouchBBCA.org
• BlackDoctor.org / Facebook.com/BlackDoctor.org
• For The Love of My Gurls
• Breastie Love
Support the show
If you haven’t already, subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you will get each episode of the pod straight to your inbox. Learn more at reprofilm.org or at @reprofilm The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!
The “work wives” behind the dark comedy “Always & Forever” join Asha Dahya on the Periodical Podcast to chat about collaboration, going viral, and how humor is a secret weapon in the fight for reproductive justice.
“It's just a proven concept at this point that comedy disrupts the status quo. A little bit of humor, a little bit of entertainment moves the needle. It works.” — Lara Everly
“Humor sneaks past people's defenses. It can be a way (in), even for people who agree but might feel like other serious videos feel medicinal … You get them laughing, you get them engaged, and then you come in with the punch at the end.” — Jessica Stamen
Support the show
If you haven’t already, subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you will get each episode of the pod straight to your inbox. Learn more at reprofilm.org or at @reprofilm The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!
Support the showIf you haven’t already, subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you will get each episode of the pod straight to your inbox. Learn more at reprofilm.org or at @reprofilm The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!
The “Who Gets to Parent?” creators join Asha Dahya on the rePROFilm Periodical Podcast to discuss their parenthood story and how they combined storytelling and research to create their documentary series. They also discuss the life-changing power of community building, the blessing of a family ally, and what it’s like to be queer parents who live in Kansas. A truly moving and inspiring conversation — one of our favorites.
“We started pouring so much more love into each other and patience into each other because we realized how alone we were on this journey.” — Pere DeRoy
• For our Vol. 17 Periodical, we’re sharing Episode 2, “Why IVF?,” and Episode 4, “IVF Check #1/Racism and Physicians.”
• WhoGetsToParent.com
Support the showIf you haven’t already, subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you will get each episode of the pod straight to your inbox. Learn more at reprofilm.org or at @reprofilm The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!
The idea for “Simone” came to writer-director Aisha Amin after countless hours on public transit observing parents and other caretakers struggling with young children. For our Vol. 16 Periodical Podcast, Asha Dahya speaks with Amin about how she developed the title character in collaboration with actress Cree McClellan, a single mother herself.
Support the showIf you haven’t already, subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you will get each episode of the pod straight to your inbox. Learn more at reprofilm.org or at @reprofilm The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!
Periodical Podcast host Asha Dahya chats with “Counterfeit Kunkoo” writer/director Reema Maya Sengupta about how her mother’s struggle to find housing as a single woman inspired her to write a “very angry script.” In a lovely full-circle moment, Reema’s mom served as the producer of the film and helped secure many of the set locations in the Mumbai slum where she grew up.
Support the showIf you haven’t already, subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you will get each episode of the pod straight to your inbox. Learn more at reprofilm.org or at @reprofilm The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!
Welcome to our March episode of the rePROFilm podcast. It’s Women’s History Month, and it’s also Oscars month, and we are SO excited to speak with two Academy Award-nominated filmmakers in this episode!
Our theme this month is virginity - the conversations we have about it, the cultural taboos, the societal expectations, the ridiculous gender expectations, and why, when it comes to sexuality and youth, focusing on healthy communication rather than shame or fear-based messaging, is perhaps a better way forward.
And what a better and more effective way to share messaging, than in film. In this month’s rePRO Periodical we are highlighting a short film called ‘My Year of Dicks’, which is an Academy Award contender for Best Short Animated Film, written and created by Pamela Ribon and directed by Sara Gunnarsdóttir.
It’s based on Pamela’s 2014 memoir, “Notes to Boys (and Other Things I Shouldn’t Share in Public)” which documents her resolution to lose her virginity as a 15-year-old in 1991 while growing up on the outskirts of Houston. The film is broken down into 5 chapters and five different awkward sexual encounters, with some kinda douchey guys. Style-wise, it’s giving me 90’s MTV vibes - with a moody, grunge soundtrack, a mixture of real film footage of a teenage Pamela, and some bold yet sensitive animation from Sara.
Now if you aren’t familiar with the names Pamela Ribon and Sara Gunnarsdóttir, you definitely know their work. Pamela is a writer, best known for her work on Disney’s Moana and Ralph Breaks the Internet. She’s a best-selling novelist, and co-host of the podcast Listen To Sassy, a weekly deep-dive through every issue of Sassy Magazine.
Sara is a director and artist from Iceland who has created animation, music videos, and original artwork for film and television, including Marielle Heller’s debut feature “The Diary of a Teenage Girl,” and HBO’s Emmy-nominated “The Case Against Adnan Sayed.” She is one of 3 Icelandic artists nominated in various categories at the Academy Awards this year, and in keeping with Women’s History Month, Sara is the first Icelandic female director to be nominated for an Oscar!
We hope you will enjoy this conversation filled with sexual innuendos, lots of giggles, and a powerful conversation about how we dismantle harmful ideas around virginity. Take a listen to our interview!
Support the showIf you haven’t already, subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you will get each episode of the pod straight to your inbox. Learn more at reprofilm.org or at @reprofilm The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!
REHEARSAL with special guest Courtney Hope Thérond
The “Rehearsal” writer/director talks to Asha Dahya on the Periodical Podcast about how her own on-set experiences inspired her short film. Maybe if she could demonstrate how intimacy scenes can go awry, she thought, others might understand how problems can arise even between people who trust, care for, and respect each other. Tune in to find out how audiences reacted.
Support the showIf you haven’t already, subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you will get each episode of the pod straight to your inbox. Learn more at reprofilm.org or at @reprofilm The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!
With special guests “Miso” director Kelly Walker, writer/director/producer Mariah Bess, and actor/producer Alex Sgambati
Asha Dahya speaks with three women behind “Miso,” a short film about a doula-assisted, at-home abortion. The trio talk about how they want “Miso” to be an entrance point for audiences to learn about abortion doulas, abortion pills, and Plan C, the organization that gives people the information they need to safely end their own pregnancies at home. They also chat about combining advocacy and narrative, creating their ideal on-set experience, and their Oscar campaign.
“I knew that I wanted to tell a story about relationships and how people come together through these embodied processes … I wanted to show how a person moves through this moment in their life and how they connect with another person in real time.” — Mariah Bess
Support the showIf you haven’t already, subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you will get each episode of the pod straight to your inbox. Learn more at reprofilm.org or at @reprofilm The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!
Our featured short film this month has got us thinking about family support systems, awkward parental conversations, and how repro rights and health care is actually inextricably linked to all of that.
The short film we’re excited to present in December is called La Macana, directed and written by Maria Mealla. The film follows recently divorced Carmen and Franco who work through their fervent relationship to support their daughter Sol when she gets her period for the first time. Just reading that sentence aloud immediately gives me flashbacks to when I first got my period, and oof it was rough. My parents are so loving and supportive, but the taboos around menstruation and anything “female” related were so tangible, my dad would literally change the channel whenever one of those ads came on TV where you’d see blue liquid being poured onto a pad or a tampon. You know exactly which ones are talking about.
Support the showIf you haven’t already, subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you will get each episode of the pod straight to your inbox. Learn more at reprofilm.org or at @reprofilm The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!
Asha Dahya speaks with Kevin Shane who is the Marketing & Communications Director for an organization called the Male Contraceptive Initiative. He is leading the organization’s advocacy and outreach efforts. This organization is doing some incredibly brilliant and frankly revolutionary things in the contraceptive space for men, or sperm producers, which is the term Kevin will explain more about in the interview.
Before we get into the episode, think about how birth control completely shifted our lives as women as well as the world economically and revolutionized the power dynamics egg producers have in their families. Of course there is a dark history of racism toward black and Brown women when it comes to early testing of birth control, as well as major pharmaceutical coverups of certain birth control methods becoming dangerous and harmful to women, and this is something we as a country need to acknowledge and rectify with transparency going forward.
Now if we start to see multiple methods of contraceptives hitting the market in the next few years for men, how will our families and society at large be revolutionized once more, and how will it impact our pursuit for gender equality? To answer all these questions and more, we are thrilled to introduce you to Kevin Shane from the Male Contraceptive Initiative.
If you haven’t already, subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you will get each episode of the pod straight to your inbox. Learn more at reprofilm.org or at @reprofilm The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!
Asha Dahya chats with Julia VanRooyen, an OB/GYN and sex educator. In this informative conversation, Dr. Julia breaks down the science and policy surrounding sex education in the U.S.
“We hear again and again and again that giving kids information about sex is going to give them license to have it. That has been studied extensively, and it really is not true. Studies have shown that abstinence-only sex education does not lower teen pregnancy or birth rates and in fact likely increases it.” — Julia VanRooyen
In this episode, Asha Dahya interviews Katia Badalian - a multi-talented Russian-American visual artist who directed the short film we’re featuring this month titled ‘Heroines’.
Ten year-old nina is at the home of her neighbor Regina, Waiting for her mother to pick her up. Regina is a coarse-talking woman, dressed in a sexy outfit while chain-smoking in her kitchen, and perhaps emboldened by Nina’s unresponsiveness, takes the opportunity to give Nina the good old’ sex talk - well her version of it! At first, given Nina’s silence as she listens, we assume as the audience that she doesn’t comprehend some of the details Regina is describing. But a twist at the end makes the viewer see, in a shocking way, that she understands more than we realize.
‘Heroines’ has just wrapped up a successful 2 year festival run, where it received a lot of peer recognition and acclaim, as Katia shares in our chat.
Shot in only 2 locations over 8 minutes, relying on sound design and carefully designed visuals to be a key part of the story, ‘Heroines’ is a very different type of sex education film, but one that underscores the need for more dialog to disrupt damaging narratives we are seeing around America today.
This was such a rich, dynamic and inspiring conversation, and we're thrilled to be sharing it with you all!
EPISODE 07: PLACENTA PÂTÉ
Tia Salisbury in conversation with Asha Dahya
This month we wanted to switch gears a little and bring some joy and humor to the table. Our feature short film is called ‘Placenta Pâté’, and if you haven’t seen it yet, head to reprofilm.org to watch right after this chat because as you’ll hear, there are some really fascinating insights into the background of this film that will make you appreciate all the hard work, research and passion that goes into making even a short film.
Our guest today is Tia Salisbury - a multi-award winning writer and director based in the UK. Her live-action shorts have been screened at BAFTA qualifying festivals including 'The London Short Film Festival'. Although COVID was a tumultuous time for the film industry and for parents, for Tia, who is also a mum, it ended up being a rather productive and successful time in her career. She made a comedy short film which won 2 awards, and wrote a comedy series pilot.
Tia's latest comedy short, 'Placenta Pâté', focuses on new parenting in all its messy chaos, as experienced through the eyes of clashing same-sex mums Libby and Erin, played by Bethan Nash and Georgia Frost. New mother Libby has breastfeeding woes, but when her wife suggests a traditional placenta remedy as the answer, underlying tensions rear their head, and it's not just the kitchen getting messy.
Join Asha Dahya as she speaks with Tia about all things placenta, motherhood, filmmaking, and how sometimes the best way to get your project funded is to annoy the crap out of funders until they give you the money and tell you to, “piss off”.
Bonus Episode: Why WE’RE Here
Get to know us a little better in this bonus podcast episode: A few members of the rePRO team got together to talk about why we do this work. Hear from co-founders Lela Meadow-Conner and Mallory Martin, podcast host Asha Dahya, programmer Neha Aziz, and copywriter Emily Christensen.(Recorded prior to June 24, 2022.)
“We're all from all across the country. We're from all different walks of life and different lived experiences, different ages … (we’re in) different parts of our lives. And I think that it’s so important that rePRO never is a singular vision. It is all of us..” — Lela Meadow-Conner
reprofilm.org
Episode 6: Andrea Raby and Marie Kahn in conversation with Asha Dahya
In this bracing conversation, “Undue Burdens” director/producer Andrea Raby and Marie Kahn, director of operations for Midwest Access Coalition break down what each of us can do to preserve abortion access and why wearing Handmaid costumes and wielding wire hangers isn’t helpful.
“We have … abortion pills. We have practical support funds. We have abortion funds. We have mutual aid organizations. We have radical harm reduction spaces.” — Marie Kahn on the structures that are in place now that people didn’t have access to 50+ years ago.
Andrea Raby is a Chicago-based documentary filmmaker and producer whose films have played in festivals across the U.S. Her latest short film “Strikers” is supported by IF/Then Shorts. She was a fellow of the 2019 Double Exposure Film Festival with her short film “Undue Burdens.” Her producing credits include podcast “Love is Not” and short documentary “A Galaxy Sits in the Cracks.” She is currently a co-producer on director Ruth Leitman’s in-progress documentary “No One Asked You.”
Marie J Khan (she/her) came on board with Midwest Access Coalition (MAC) in 2016, a practical support organization assisting and funding abortion seekers traveling for care. As the director of programs, she works closely with partner clinics and hospitals, and is a hotline coordinator providing comprehensive logistical planning, booking, and funding for travel/lodging/childcare/food for MAC clients. Marie grew up in Southern Wisconsin, in a conservative Christian space. Once she was able to access more reproductive resources and broaden her worldview, she realized she had much to learn. Connecting with her own South Asian community has been critical in her ongoing process of understanding herself. She’s worked exclusively at bars, nonprofits, and public universities, and is thankful for the radical and fearless thinkers who have helped her survive and thrive.
EPISODE 05: AAPI IN THE REPRO CONVO with Lilly Hu of Cold Wall & Seri Lee of NAPAWF
Thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Repo Film Podcast as part of the Repro Periodical Newsletter, where each month we share a short film and conversation centered around a theme. May is Asian-American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and given that the majority of our film team are part of the AAPI community, myself included, we fully realize the importance and timeliness of looking at the way we approach and help justice impacts AAPI Folks.
This month, we're featuring the stunning short film Cold Wall and a short interview with writer and director Lilly Hu, who is originally from China. Cold Wall was her award winning IFC thesis film, which is about a young Chinese high school student experiencing an unplanned pregnancy while studying abroad alone in Los Angeles. Cold Wall follows Bei Bei a.k.a Katie as she negotiates her own unwanted pregnancy in an American culture that she doesn't fully understand.
In the second half of this episode, I'll be speaking with Seri Lee, the national campaign and membership director for the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum, also referred to in our interview by its acronym NAPAWF, Seri and I talk about the scary time we are living in, staring down the barrel of Roe v Wade being overturned. What reproductive justice is and why it is important for the AAPI community and what we as everyday people can do, even in small ways to ensure abortion access reproductive health and human rights is a reality we can all work toward.
It is a time filled with uncertainty right now. But as Seri quotes, black American abolitionist Mariam Kabir in our interview, "Having hope is a discipline." I love that quote so much and we will not give up. So I hope you enjoy this conversation.
SHOW NOTES:
- COLD WALL (Dir. Lilly Hu)
- Watch on Vimeo
- NATIONAL ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN WOMEN'S FORUM | NAPAWF
- napawf.org
- Sign your name on the Asian American and Pacific Islander Abortion Solidarity Statement – https://www.napawf.org/abortionsolidarity
- Our Blues (Netflix)
- Sign up for our free, monthly rePRO Periodical
- Visit reprofilm.org for more information
EPISODE 04: A PERIOD PIECE featuring Shuchi Talati, Director/Writer of 'A Period Piece'
This month we’re focusing on menstrual health and all things periods. Yes, the topic that literally billions of people around the world experience, yet is still heavily stigmatized in so many ways. From menstrual products being taxed as “luxury goods” in a number of countries, to the lack of access to period products, and women and girls being shunned from their communities and forced to stay in potentially dangerous spaces because menstruating is considered “dirty” or “unclean” by certain groups, it’s clear we have a long way to go to dismantle harmful cultural norms. But one of the most exciting areas we are seeing change in, is film and media. From the 2018 Oscar-winning short documentary “Period. End of Sentence”, to more recently Pixar’s ‘Turning Red’ driving a tonne of conversations on social media about how periods are included in family films, this is what we need to see more of! No more silence!
We are speaking with an acclaimed filmmaker Shuchi Talati, whose short narrative film 'A Period Piece' is breaking silence and taboos in powerful and beautiful ways. Shuchi is originally from India and her work challenges dominant narratives around gender, sexuality, race and South Asian identity. Shuchi is also a writer / producer for documentaries. Recent credits include We Are: Brooklyn Saints for Netflix, and Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas for HBO, where one of Shuchi’s episodes was nominated for a GLAAD award.
Released in 2020, ‘A Period Piece’ follows main character Geetha, a control and order loving Indian-American woman who finally has sex with her lover Vehd one afternoon in her apartment, but things quickly turn messy when period blood stains her pristine couch and a fight erupts while they are having sex. The film has enjoyed nearly 2 years of a successful festival run, including being screened at our very own rePRO Film Fest, as well as SXSW in 2020. Dismantling stigma around menstruation starts with having open conversations and normalizing this very normal thing!
BONUS EPISODE: Interview with Co-Directors Maya Cueva and Leah Galant of ON THE DIVIDE
rePRO Film is proud to be a community partner of the Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF). Audiences at the festival as well as our rePRO Periodical subscribers will have access to this episode, where Asha Dahya has a conversation with the filmmakers (Leah Galant and Maya Cueva) of the 2021 documentary: On The Divide.
We all know how powerful films and documentaries are when it comes to changing hearts and minds through personal stories, giving audiences a glimpse into an issue where they can really put themselves in people’s shoes. That is exactly what ‘On The Divide’ does.
This topic couldn’t be more timely right now, as we are on the precipice of seeing Roe v Wade overturned. So we had the chance to speak with co-directors Maya Cueva and Leah Galant who talked about making the film over 7 years, why they chose to highlight this particular community in the Rio Grande valley, and why Choice really is a matter of survival.
SHOW NOTES:
- Watch ‘On The Divide’ during the Cleveland International Film Festival
- CIFF46 Streams On DemandSunday, April 10, 2022 at 11:00 AM - Sunday, April 17, 2022 at 11:59 PM
- onthedividemovie.com | @onthedividemovie | @onthedivide
- Sign up here for our free, monthly rePRO Periodical
- Follow us @reprofilmofficial • repro.buzzsprout.com • reprofilm.org
EPISODE 03 (Part 2): Interview with Elaine Gracie, writer of ‘End-O’Welcome to Part 2 of the rePRO Film Podcast episode for March, where we are celebrating endometriosis awareness month by highlighting this important issue through advocacy, education and of course, a brilliant short film. If you haven’t yet listened to part 1 of this month’s episode, be sure to make that next on your to-do list!
In this interview, I’ll be speaking with Elaine Gracie, the writer of ‘End-O’, a short film out of the UK which was originally released in 2020 and has since gone on to win a bunch of awards and continue to screen at numerous film festivals in the UK and throughout the world.
Since March is Endometriosis awareness month, the story and central topic, based on writer Elaine’s real life experience, is as relevant as ever, especially given the statistics that 1 in 10 women are living with endo. Elaine opens up to me about her debilitating, and at times absurd reality of living with endo, how she channeled her rage toward the medical system into an acclaimed short film, why she welcomes even the trolling comments, and the next exciting iteration of this film. This is hands down one of my favorite interviews of all time and once you’re done listening you will know why!
For the full transcript, please click here.
SHOW NOTES:
- END-O (Dir. Alice Seabright | Screenwriter, Elaine Gracie)
- Watch on Vimeo
- Follow on Instagram/Twitter: @endoshortfilm
- Elaine Gracie: @wee_egracie
- Listen to Part 1 of Episode featuring an interview with Jenne Rishe of The Endo Coalition
- Sign up for our free, monthly rePRO Periodical
EPISODE 03 (Part 1): Interview with Endo Coalition's Jenneh Rishe
We’re all familiar with March being Women’s History Month, but did you know it is also Endometriosis awareness month? If you didn’t, don’t worry you certainly are not alone. In fact, despite the statistics that say 1 in 10 women in the US are living with endometriosis, many are suffering in silence. There are a number of reasons for this, ranging from lack of awareness, to misdiagnosis, and lack of funding for research toward endometriosis, all of which contribute to a widespread problem that deserves more education and amplification.
So this is our theme for the month, and I am super excited for our interviews in this periodical. It will actually be a two-part episode, and in this first part, I will be speaking with Jenneh Rishe, the founder and executive director of an advocacy organization called The Endometriosis Coalition.
Jenneh has been a Registered Nurse for over a decade, working in internal medicine, trauma, kidney transplant, oncology, and leukemia/bone marrow transplant. It took over 4 years, but Jenneh's medical background gave her the knowledge and skills to navigate how to finally get good care after she was diagnosed with endometriosis. With her love for healthcare, education, and teaching, she felt inspired to use her abilities to help other women understand the disease better. She is also the author of Part of You, Not All of You: Shared Wisdom and Guided Journaling for Life With Chronic Illness. Jenneh is originally from New Jersey, and lives in Los Angeles. When asked why she felt so passionately about starting the The Endometriosis Coalition, she says "endometriosis is criminally under researched and horribly misunderstood, and I want to be a part of changing that, sooner rather than later."
So let’s get into the discussion!
SHOW NOTES:
- The Endometriosis Coalition - www.theendo.co | @theendo.co
- Jenneh Rishe – jennehrishe.com
- Part of You, Not All of You: Shared Wisdom and Guided Journaling for Life With Chronic Illness
- Listen to Part 2 featuring Elaine Gracie, screenwriter of End-O
- The rePRO Periodical – sign up at reprofilm.org
**EPISODE 02: An Interview with Rebyrth's Cydney Tucker and Imani Byers
Welcome to the rePRO Film Podcast series, hosted by Asha Dahya. If you haven’t already, sign up to the rePRO Periodical by heading to reprofilm.org where every month you will receive an email packed with repro goodies including this podcast interview, links to articles to keep you up to speed on the latest repro news, the link to watch the short film we are about to discuss, and of course some organizations you should be supporting right now. So let’s get into today’s interview and this month’s theme, Black Maternal Health. February is Black History Month in the United States, and we can’t talk about both the past and present of this country without looking at the pivotal role Black women have played in maternal healthcare and reproductive rights, and also the way Black women and Black bodies have been impacted. From the history of forced sterilization (which still happens in prisons today), to the very present problem of rising maternal mortality rates disproportionately impacting Black mothers, there is a reason why Reproductive Justice, a movement founded by Black women leaders in the 90’s, should be front and center in the larger effort for bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom today. And we will be discussing this.**
The film you get to watch this month is called ‘Rebyrth’, by filmmaker Cydney Tucker. This short documentary features Imani Byers, who is an Atlanta-based doula working to save the lives of Black mothers in their journey from pregnancy to motherhood. Her company is called ‘Rebyrth Wellness’, hence the name of the film.
Cydney Tucker is a journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in New Orleans, Louisiana. She has written, produced, and directed films for CBS News, NBC News, Al Jazeera International (AJ+), and RYOT. Her latest projects include two films with the New York Times Presents’s Hulu/FX documentary series. Her work has been featured in several festivals including SXSW and New Orleans Film Festival. In addition to her professional background, Cydney has asked me to include some additional details about her. She is a self-described Black female with brown skin, dark brown hair that is twisted and pulled back into two low buns. She is wearing gold hoop earrings and a flowered blouse. Cydney is speaking from Chitimacha/Choctaw land, in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Imani Byers is a full spectrum doula providing services in Atlanta & Savannah GA. She has a Masters in Public Health and Social Work and is a Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW) in the State of Georgia. Imani is also a Certified Yoga Instructor, and placenta encapsulation specialist. As shared in the film and on her website, Imani answered the call to birth work as a descendant of birth attendants, and to date has assisted over 30 families on their individual journeys, since starting her business during the height of COVID.
Be sure to listen all the way through to take note of some important action items toward the end. Now that we have all that housekeeping out of the way, please meet my guests!
EPISODE 01: Interview with This Is Not A Love Letter's Ariel Zucker, Daryl Paris Bright, and Isabel PaskAs we all know, we just ended 2021 on a very turbulent and uncertain note in terms of reproductive rights and specifically abortion access because of two very big Supreme Court cases involving Mississippi and Texas abortion laws. Now, while we wait for a ruling from this ultra-conservative court in June and as we look ahead to the midterms in November, there has never been a better time to double down on conversations around the need for reproductive justice and more specifically, using art and filmmaking as a tool for creating change and moving the needle. So now that you know, our vision for 2022, let's get into today's episode. While not all the films we covered this year will be about abortion per se. We thought it was a very fitting note to focus January's episode on this very topic with our first short film. This is not a love letter, especially given this month's 49th anniversary of Roe versus Wade, which sadly may very well be its last. There is talk that the landmark Supreme Court case from 1973, which legalized abortion in America, may not survive to see its 50th year in existence. So talking about the right to abortion access right now is important. Today, I'll (Asha Dahya) be speaking with director Ariel Zucker, producer Daryl Paris Bright, and poet Isabel Pask.
Click here for the full transcript + show notes.
Learn more at reprofilm.org and view here on YouTube "THIS IS NOT A LOVE LETTER"