VESSEL by Diana Whitten *Chicago Premiere*
Dr. Rebecca Gomperts sails a ship around the world, providing abortions at sea for women with no legal alternative. Her idea begins as flawed spectacle, faced with governmental, religious, and military blockade. But with each roadblock comes a more refined mission, until Rebecca realizes she can use new technologies to bypass law – and train women to give themselves abortions using WHO-researched protocols with pills.
From there we witness her create an underground network of emboldened, informed activists who trust women to handle abortion themselves. Vessel is Rebecca’s story: one of a woman who hears and answers a calling, and transforms a wildly improbable idea into a global movement.
Program Details:
88 min // USA // 2014 // HD Video
Preceeded by a reading from
JANE: Documents From Chicago’s Clandestine Abortion Service 1968-1973
Post Screening Discussion with Jeanne Galatzer-Levy of the JANE Collective
The first 40 ticket holders will receive a free copy of JANE: purchased from Microcosm Publishing in Portland, OR.
http://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/zines/2071/
Diana Whitten (director/producer) has a decade of professional film/TV direction, production and design experience. She founded Sovereignty Productions in 2008, following a Fulbright Fellowship to Indonesia, and was the Director of Communications at Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program. Vessel, her first feature film, premiered at South by Southwest Film Festival and won the Audience Award in the Documentary Competition, as well as a Special Jury Award for Political Courage. Awards include the inaugural Peter Wintonick Award from Sheffield DocFest, an Honorable mention for the Moving Mountains Award at Mountainfilm in Telluride, and the Adrienne Shelly Excellence in Filmmaking Award.
Jeanne Galatzer-Levy was a member of the JANE Collective. These days she is associate director in the UIC News Bureau, handling media relations for the biomedical and natural sciences. Her previous experience includes media relations for the American Medical Association, the University of Chicago and the Alzheimer’s Association. Her freelance experience includes articles on health topics in the Chicago Tribune, Tribune Magazine and Loyola Medicine. She has a master’s degree in biochemistry from UIC, an undergraduate degree in anthropology from the University of Chicago and a B.A. in science journalism from Columbia College.
Programmed by Christy LeMaster and Robin Amer