"While still a teenager, a young woman with a dream of becoming a midwife begins a journey in search of traditional midwives. Her journey takes her through northeastern Brazil, indigenous villages, rural communities, quilombo settlements, and fishing villages. After meeting with these women, she transforms what she has learned into a film about ancestral wisdom and birth." http://mulheresdaterra.com.br/wp_en/#projeto
Mayara Boaretto Rocha is a midwife’s apprentice based in San Paolo, Brazil. Her journey was inspired by her own birth experience, after questioning why it is she was born via caesarean section in a city hospital while her parents were both birthed at home by traditional midwives. Brazil has one of the highest c-section rates in the world, and Mayara’s journey took her to rural villages in her country to interview traditional midwives and their challenges of upholding these practices as more people travel to hospitals in nearby cities for birth. After screening her personal documentary in various indigenous communities within Brazil, she will be embarking on a US and European tour to further have conversations around birth stories and the reclamation of traditional healing.
Following the screening will be a Q&A panel consisting of Mayara and local birthworkers of color in the Long Beach/Los Angeles area. The panel will be moderated by organizer June Kaewsith (Jumakae).
Please join us afterward for a birthworkers resource fair at Native Sol(directly aross the street from the venue) from 1:00 - 4:00PM, organized by Long Beach Birthworkers of Color Collective.
