One flick that got a lot of buzz at the recent Sundance Film Festival was 12th & Delaware, made by the same filmmakers who brought us Jesus Camp a few years ago.
The movie is about an intersection in a small Florida town, with an abortion clinic on one corner and a crisis pregnancy center – which encourages expectant mothers to have their babies rather than abort them – across the street. The film includes footage inside both establishments, and intimate interviews with the women who head to both places.
HBO has picked up the film, and plans to air it in July or August TBA. Cinematical calls 12th & Delaware“fantastic,” noting that directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (who are both pro-choice) did a fine job maintaining objectivity and really getting at the hearts of the women caught in the middle of the abortion issue: “Most impressive about 12th & Delaware are the numerous frank and touching moments with the potential mothers. I can only assume that Ms. Grady and Ms. Ewing are warm and trustworthy people, because their camera is privy to some powerfully personal moments. I don’t know many women who’d open up to a documentary film crew on their way to an appointment at an abortion clinic, but it’s a testament to the co-directors that their film is so damn … real.”
In this interview, Ewing and Grady describe the filmmaking process and say that their goal was ultimately to go “beyond being into their heads. We’re inside their hearts.”
I’m looking forward to seeing it.
