Abortion: Stories From North and South

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Abortion: Stories From North and South
Directed byGail Singer
Written byGail Singer
Produced bySigne Johansson, Gail Singer
CinematographySusan Trow
Edited byToni Trow
Music byMaribeth Solomon, Micky Erbe
Production
companies
National Film Board of Canada, Studio D
Distributed byNational Film Board of Canada
Release date
  • October 1984 (1984-10)
Running time
55 Minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish
Budget$241,705

Abortion: Stories from North and South is a Canadian documentary film directed by Gail Singer and produced by the National Film Board of Canada’s women’s unit Studio D. The film is a cross-cultural survey filmed in Ireland, Japan, Thailand, Peru, Colombia, and Canada that depicts the realities women face in accessing medical abortion services. The film outlines the historical role of the church, state, and medical establishments in creating regulations surrounding abortion.[1]

Synopsis

The film provides a historical and contemporary overview of European, Asian and North American women’s approaches to terminating unwanted pregnancies despite legislative and stigmatic barriers.[2] The film further depicts how abortion transcends race, religion and social class, and how differences in the practice and perception of abortion are mainly in the degree of secrecy and danger accompanying it.[2] During the shooting of the film, the subject of abortion often had to be disguised or downplayed due to the polarizing content of the film.[2]

Production

Studio D created the film with a budget of $241,705 (equivalent to $564,776 in 2021).[3]

Release

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation refused to show the film stating that it was "unbalanced" and the president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops stated that it was a "sleazy trick" to show two abortion films before the pope's arrival in Canada.[3]

Awards and honours

  • Nominated for Best Documentary at the Chicago International Film Festival (1984)[4]
  • Blue Ribbon Award - Category: Human Sexuality, Itinerant - American Film and Video Festival, May 27 to June (1986), New York - USA[4]
  • ADATE Award - Category: Best Editing (Toni Trow), Festival de l'audiovisuel québécois ADATE (Association pour le développement de l'audiovisuel et de la technologie en éducation, October 23 (1985), Montréal - Canada[4]
  • Certificate of Merit Award to Gail Singer - Category: Films made by the State, Festival de l'audiovisuel québécois ADATE (Association pour le développement de l'audiovisuel et de la technologie en éducation, October 23 (1985), Montréal - Canada[4]
  • Certificate of Special Merit, Academy of Motion Picture - Special Tribute, June 17 (1985), Hollywood - USA[4]
  • Grand Prize - with a cash prize of 1,000 $US, Golden Gate Awards Competition & International Film Festival, April 11 to 27 (1985), San Francisco - USA[4]
  • Public's Award, Visions du Réel / Festival international du cinéma documentaire, October 13 to 20 (1984), Nyon - Switzerland[4]

Reception

The film received generally favorable reviews from critics. A review from the

Cineaste for refraining from “expressing a narrowly partisan, single-issue stance. It concentrates instead on actual conditions and their significance for women."[2] Cooper particularly highlighted the effectiveness of the voiceover narration and visuals, stating that they “[bolster] the film’s anthropological approach to its subject and its underlying argument for safe, accessible medical care for all women.”[2] Contrarily, Brenda Longfellow stated that the film occasionally fostered a Western ethnocentric perspective, in which "it is clearest in the contrast between the sequences that deal with abortion in the West -- the ones constructed in part as fiction -- and those located in the underdeveloped world in which the point of view is that of an intrepid Margaret Mead, anthropological and distanced, consolidated by the relentless presence of voice-over."[7]

References

  1. ^ "NFB -- Abortion: Stories from North and South". National Film Board of Canada.
  2. ^ a b c d e Cooper, Margaret (1986). "THE ABORTION FILM WARS: Media in the Combat Zone". Cineaste (ARCHIVE). Vol. 15 (2 ed.). Screen Studies Collection. p. 12.
  3. ^ a b Evans 1991, p. 299.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "Our Collection, Abortion: Stories from North and South". National Film Board of Canada. 11 October 2012.
  5. ^ "Psychology of Women Quarterly". Vol. 10. 1986. pp. 443–446.
  6. ^ a b Paddock, Elizabeth G. (December 1985). "AudioVisual Reviews". Library Journal.
  7. ^ Longfellow, Brenda (February 1985). "From didactics to desire". Canadian Forum. p. 31.

Works cited

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