2017 | 1h 34min | Directed by Ramona Diaz
Synopsis
Taking us into the heart of the planet’s busiest maternity hospital, the viewer is dropped like an unseen outsider into the hospital’s stream of activity. At first, the people are strangers. As the film continues, it renders the women at the heart of the story increasingly familiar. Sundance Film Festival: Special Jury Award, Best Editing.
Availability Window
7pm, Oct 30 – 7pm, Nov 13
How to Watch
Click on the following link to access the film’s Eventive page: Motherland. On this page, click on “Buy” or “Pre-order” (don’t worry, you will be able to screen film free of charge) and you will be prompted to enter an unlock code, which is (case sensitive):
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Curator’s Commentary
In the course of research for a possible documentary on a reproductive health bill that was being challenged every step of the way in the Philippine Congress and Supreme Court by the powerful Catholic hierarchy, director Ramona Diaz visited Manila’s Fabella Hospital, known to be the world’s busiest maternity hospital. She had been planning an issue-driven documentary but once enthralled by the organized chaos and heartbreaking humanity she found at the hospital, she decided instead to do an immersive, observation-driven documentary without interviews or commentary.
In a country with shocking disparities of wealth, the upper classes have access to world-class maternity care, some in facilities that could be mistaken at first glance for hotels. Fabella Hospital is where impoverished mothers come to deliver babies, cheek by jowl with other laboring mothers. Those who are lucky enough to deliver healthy babies often go home in a day or two. Others recuperate in a huge ward where they share beds with other mothers, trade life stories and jokes, and care for each other’s babies. For lack of incubators, the mothers are instructed in the Kangaroo Mother Care method by which a baby is heated 24/7 by the mother’s warmth with the help of a tube top.
Diaz recalls: “There’s a kindness and a grace that I didn’t expect—it’s really incredible. Also, it was very important for me to not define [the women] by their poverty or their disempowerment. They are human beings. They are sexual. They are funny. They are very bawdy. They are human beings. It’s really important that the audience see that.”
There are hints of more troubles when the mothers go home, with inadequate housing, jobless prospects, and lack of education. Without commentary, the film is a quiet indictment of a system that continues to enable scandalous disparities of wealth, political corruption, and detrimental religious beliefs. The film also manages to capture the humor, compassion, and quiet heroism of mothers, medical staff, and social workers in the face of hellish challenges, strengthened by a sense of community—that basic human need all too often lacking in more privileged environments.
—Gil Quito
About the Director
Baltimore-based, Philippine-American filmmaker Ramona Diaz is internationally acclaimed for her character-driven documentaries exploring Philippine or Phil-American issues and themes.
Other notable works include Imelda (2003), about the former Philippine first lady; Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey (2013), about Arnel Pineda, who became the front singer of the iconic rock band Journey after they discovered him on YouTube; and A Thousand Cuts (2020), about the Philippine journalist Maria Ressa who would eventually become the latest Nobel Peace Prize laureate (along with Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov).
Diaz holds a BA from Emerson College and an MA from Stanford University. She is a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship.
Diaz’s films have screened at top-tier film festivals including Sundance, Tribeca, the Berlinale, and IDFA. Her feature-length documentaries have all been presented by PBS.
Watch the Trailer
Extras
Diaz print interview with the International Documentary Association Magazine
Diaz video interview from the Park City Television with Terry Burden
Video talkback with Diaz and cinematographer Nadia Hallgren at the Berlin Int’l Film Festival