Here are a couple of interesting film viewing opportunities coming up this month:
UTMB’s Institute for the Medical Humanities is co-sponsoring a sneak preview of The Business of Being Born with the Bay Area Birth Center. It’ll be at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at Levin Hall South. Dr. Cheryl Vaiani will facilitate a Q&A panel after the film, providing perspectives from midwifery, maternal/fetal medicine, and law.
The synopsis: 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 examine and question the way American women have babies. The film interlaces intimate birth stories with surprising historical, political and scientific insights and shocking statistics about the current maternity care system. When director Epstein discovers she is pregnant during the making of the film, the journey becomes even more personal. Should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potentially catastrophic medical emergency?
There’s also a film series being sponsored by the Office of Diversity and International Affairs as part of Black History Month. It’s a four-part film, Slavery and the Making of America. The first part will be shown Feb. 7, from 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m. in the second floor dining room at Levin Hall. You can see the full schedule of events for Black History Month and information about the film on the Diversity Council’s web site…