Midwives – Into This World

The Business of Being Born

January 2008 •English

Birth: it's a miracle. A rite of passage. A natural part of life. But more than anything, birth is a business. Compelled to find answers after a disappointing birth experience with her first child, actress Ricki Lake recruits filmmaker Abby Epstein to explore the maternity care system in America

A Midwife's Tale

January 1998 •English

To understand eighteenth-century America through a woman's eyes, historian and author Laurel Thatcher Ulrich spent eight years working through Martha Ballard's massive but cryptic diary. "A Midwife's Tale" chronicles the interwoven stories of two remarkable women: an eighteenth-century midwife and healer and the twentieth-century historian who brought her words to light.

Le Premier Cri

October 2007 •French

Documentary about births around the different cultures and regions of the world.

The Birth Reborn 2

May 2018 •Portuguese

Featuring experts in their fields and raw and moving footage, this documentary makes a case for increased autonomy in women's choices for childbirth.

Unseen

July 2021 •Slovak

Women from widely different cultures speak out about giving birth, and about the traumas they have experienced when the birth does not go as expected.

Papa – Notes on Life and Death

August 2023 •Danish

The director’s diary told in still images of a dramatic period in which he becomes first a father and then almost loses the love of his life when his girlfriend – filmmaker Lea Glob – goes into a coma after giving birth.

Sages et rebelles

March 2023 •French

A look at the daily life of midwives across Quebec.

To Our Daughter

February 2018 •English

Kylie Jenner documents her pregnancy and birth of her daughter.

Motherland

January 2017 •English

The planet’s busiest maternity hospital is located in one of its poorest and most populous countries: the Philippines. There, poor women face devastating consequences as their country struggles with reproductive health policy and the politics of conservative Catholic ideologies.

Born at Home

February 2024 •English

The Born at Home documentary explores and uncovers the empowering journey of homebirth, shedding light on the often overlooked and misunderstood option that has transformed lives. Born at Home dives into real stories of women navigating birth trauma and examines how a shift in environment and informed choices can reshape the birthing experience. Wisdom is shared from homebirth families, interwoven with evidence-based information from midwives, medical professionals, doulas, researchers and maternity advocates.

maɬni—towards the ocean, towards the shore

September 2021 •English

An experimental look at the origin of the death myth of the Chinookan people in the Pacific Northwest, following two people as they navigate their own relationships to the spirit world and a place in between life and death.

Birth and Death

December 1968 •English

This cinema-verite-style documentary interweaves the pregnancy and childbirth of a young woman with the lingering death of a cancer patient to comment on the celebration and tragedy of existence. The tenderness and intimacy of the young couple, and the mystery of birth are contrasted with the dignity of a man who faces his death without deception.

More Business of Being Born

November 2011 •English

Executive Producer Ricki Lake and Filmmaker Abby Epstein follow their landmark documentary,'The Business of Being Born', with an all-new, four part DVD series that continues their provocative and entertaining exploration of the modern maternity care system. Exploration of the maternity care system, including birthing options and celebrity birth stories.

For Somebody Else

November 2020 •English

We follow three women on an emotional and thought-provoking journey as they lend their bodies and carry someone else's child.

Bodysong

December 2003 •English

Documentary footage from various sources, set to music. Showing the whole of human life, from birth to death and beyond.

Naître d'une autre

Invalid date •French

The Hart of London

November 1970 •English

"The Hart of London" is an endlessly layered tour de force. It explores life and death, the sense of place and personal displacement, and the intricate aesthetics of representation. It is a personal and spiritual film, marked inevitably by Chambers’s knowledge that he had leukemia. The late American avant-garde filmmaker Stan Brakhage said of Hart, "If I named the five greatest films [ever made], this has got to be one of them." Even this high praise falls short of hyperbole. The Hart of London is at the centre of Chambers’s extraordinary achievement.

The High Song

January 1989 •Latvian

The painful exit of a child of man in the world of God. The highest sense of being and the earthly joy of man and woman.

What She Carries

Invalid date •English

Exploring the revitalization of traditional birthing practices in Indigenous communities across Turtle Island, the film blends personal stories of pregnancy, birth, loss, and renewal, revealing the vast and diverse experiences of women within the life-giving cycle.

1997: The Birth of the Camera Phone

June 2017 •English

On June 11th, 1997, Philippe Kahn created the first camera phone solution to share pictures instantly on public networks. The impetus for this invention was the birth of Kahn's daughter, when he jerry-rigged a mobile phone with a digital camera and sent photos in real time. In 2016 Time Magazine included Kahn's first camera phone photo in their list of the 100 most influential photos of all time.