“Remember this, for it is as true as true gets: Your body is not a lemon. You are not a machine. The Creator is not a careless mechanic. Human female bodies have the same potential to give birth well as aardvarks, lions, rhinoceri, elephants, moose, and water buffalo. Even if it has not been your habit throughout your life so far, I recommend that you learn to think positively about your body.”
― Ina May Gaskin
The feature-length documentary BIRTH STORY: Ina May Gaskin and The Farm Midwives tells the story of counterculture heroine Ina May Gaskin and her spirited friends, who began delivering each other’s babies in 1970, on a caravan of hippie school buses, headed to a patch of rural Tennessee land. With Ina May as their leader, the women taught themselves midwifery from the ground up, and, with their families, founded an entirely communal, agricultural society called The Farm. They grew their own food, built their own houses, published their own books, and, as word of their social experiment spread, created a model of care for women and babies that changed a generation’s approach to childbirth.
Forty years ago Ina May led the charge away from isolated hospital birthing rooms, where husbands were not allowed and mandatory forceps deliveries were the norm. Today, as nearly one third of all US babies are born via C-section, she fights to preserve her community’s hard-won knowledge. With incredible access to the midwives’ archival video collection, the film not only captures the unique sisterhood at The Farm Clinic–from its heyday into the present–but shows childbirth the way most people have never seen it–unadorned, unabashed, and awe-inspiring.
Read Kindred editor, Lisa Reagan’s Interview with Ina May Gaskin here.
Watch Lisa’s interview with Ina May about her book below and here.
Watch the discussion between playwright Karen Brody and Ina May about birth, the play and the movement, here.
Ina May Gaskin received the Right Livelihood Award on December 5, 2011 in Sweden. The award is the “alternative” Nobel Prize.
Two chances to watch this new documentary!
On Friday, April 19, 2013 Ina May will be our special guest at the VIP Screening held at the Alliance for the Arts. This very special evening begins with a pre-screening reception at 6 pm and concludes with a Q&A with Ina May immediately following the film!
Reserve your seats below! *Each ticket requires a separate PayPal transaction.*
The Public Screening, also held at the Alliance for the Arts, will be on Saturday April 20, 2013 at 1 pm. This screening will be held during the Green Family Expo!
Bring the whole family out to enjoy a morning of good green fun watching the Solar Oven Cook-Off, attending classes & browsing local vendors all aimed at supporting a greener way of life!
