MOTHERLAND takes us into the heart of the planet’s busiest maternity hospital in one of the world’s poorest and most populous countries: the Philippines. The film’s viewer, like an unseen outsider dropped unobtrusively into the hospital’s stream of activity, passes through hallways, enters rooms and listens in on conversations. At first, the surrounding people are strangers, but as the film continues, it’s absorbingly intimate, rendering the women at the heart of the story increasingly familiar. In a hospital that is literally bursting with life, we witness the miracle and wonder of the human condition. Diaz, a veteran documentarian began filming in the search of a story on reproductive justice, visited the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in Manila, Philippines. As the busiest maternity ward in the world, it averages 60 births a day—and at its peak, as many as 100 babies within a 24-hour period. Fabella Hospital is the final safety net for very poor pregnant women, most of whom cannot afford either contraception or the $60 delivery fee. Immersing the viewer with a fly on the wall cinema verité approach,” MOTHERLAND – winner of World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Commanding Vision at Sundance will open on September 22 in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Monica Film Center. Director Ramona Diaz stops by to talk about her immersive, intimate film that finds intimacy and caring in the midst of controlled bedlam.
For news and updates go to: motherland-film.com
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Opens Friday, September 22nd at the LAEMMLE MONICA FILM CENTER
MOTHERLAND director Ramona Diaz will participate in brief Q&A’s opening weekend at the Monica Film Center: FRIDAY, 9/22, 7:30 PM screening; SATURDAY, 9/23, 5 PM and 7:30 PM screenings; SUNDAY, 9/24, 2:30 and 5 PM screenings.
“Engaging, intimate and full of life” – Film School Rejects
“Explores issues with an emphatically compassionate approach.” – FilmJournal
“Motherland” is an extraordinary vérité portrait of Manila’s Fabella Hospital, where an average of 60 babies are born daily, making it the busiest maternity ward in the predominantly Catholic country, and reportedly in the world. – LA Times