The Louisiana International Film Festival opened its fourth year on a serious note Wednesday with Giving Birth in America.
Supermodel and maternal health advocate Christy Turlington Burns, the film’s executive producer, attended the screening. Burns is the founder of Every Mother Counts, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving maternal health.
Wednesday’s Giving Birth in America screening and gala reception launched the 2016 LIFF’s more than 50 films. The festival runs through Sunday at Cinemark Perkins Rowe.
Giving Birth in America is a projected series of short documentaries. LIFF screened the first three of them Wednesday, and they focus respectively on maternal health challenges in New York, Florida and Montana.
A grant from the Irene W. and C.B. Pennington Foundation will finance the production of the next Giving Birth in America documentary focusing on Louisiana.
Wednesday, Burns introduced the films at the festival and stayed afterward for a Q&A session.
“The film is a deep dive into maternal health and the barriers that exist for millions of girls and women around the world,” she said during the session. “The global statistics are astounding. More than 300,000 girls and women die every year from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth.”
The United States is one of only 13 industrialized countries that has a rising maternal mortality rate, Burns added. Ninety-eight percent of the deaths are preventable, she said.
Burns addressed the topic of maternal health when she directed the 2010 documentary, No Woman No Cry. That film takes an international look at maternal health, including East Africa and Bangladesh.
Questions she’d received at screenings of No Woman No Cry inspired the new series.
“The questions that I’m asked most at those viewings have been: What is going on the United States? Why is the U.S. ranked so poorly? Why are we getting worse when so many other countries are getting better?” she told the crowd.
After completing three Giving Birth in America films, Burns realized maternal health issues in America begged for more storytelling.
“This is the beginning, we hope,” she said. “There are 50 states and probably at least 50 more stories to be told. We are very focused on Louisiana being the next film.”
Production for the next Giving Birth in America film in Louisiana is a result of Burns sharing the documentary series with Pennington Foundation President and CEO Lori J. Bertman.
“We’ve been talking for a quite a while,” Bertman said Wednesday. “We don’t take our partnerships and investments lightly. We thank the Louisiana International Film Festival for letting us show Giving Birth in America and talk about how we can raise awareness about maternal health in Louisiana. Information is power. Collaboration is power.”
Burns, despite her supermodel fame, also experienced maternal health challenges. For a time during her first pregnancy, she paid medical expenses out of pocket because she had no health insurance.
“So imagine when someone has very little support, or no income coming in to pay out of pocket,” she said. “Imagine the stress on, not only herself, but on the fetus and the family.”
Twelve years ago, Burns experienced hemorrhaging after the birth of her daughter. She later learned that hundreds of thousands of women and girls die from complications.
“That opened a door that, once I entered, I couldn’t close,” she said.
The film festival continues this evening with a screening of Miss Sharon Jones! There are nearly 50 more screenings slated for Friday-Sunday.
