rePRO Film Festival Announces Lineup for Second Year

rePRO Film Fest, the only festival in the world dedicated to reproductive justice and advocating for women's (cis, trans, and non-binary inclusive) reproductive health care, justice, and bodily autonomy, has announced THE LINEUP for its 2nd edition, which will take place from August 9-18, 2021. Tickets and all-access passes are available to anyone in the United States as of TODAY on reprofilmfest.com. Through film and conversation, rePRO Film Fest utilizes the power of storytelling as a catalyst for knowledge, intention, and action - spotlighting societal issues and advocating for women's reproductive justice, as well as encouraging active participation and establishing a more equitable future for generations to come.

The 2021 lineup of films and conversations includes three feature films and twelve short films that explore a range of topics including equal access to abortion, criminalization of bodily autonomy, gender stereotyping, reproductive health concerns, postpartum depression, reproductive justice for women of color, among others.

Feature films playing at the festival will include Leah Galant and Maya Cueva's ON THE DIVIDE, a documentary that premiered at Tribeca earlier this year about three Latinx people's weaving stories related to the last abortion clinic on the U.S/Mexico border; Celina Escher's FLY SO FAR, a documentary that premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival about the true story of a 9 month miscarriage that led to Teodora Vásquez being accused of killing her own baby by police in El Salvador, and Marion Lipschutz and Rose Rosenblatt's BEI BEI, a documentary that follows a pregnant Chinese immigrant who faces 45 years-to-life in prison when she survives a suicide attempt and her baby doesn't. The festival will also hold a special work-in-progress event, which will include an exclusive sneak peek from the film and conversation with the filmmaker, for the upcoming feature documentary on uterine fibroids called RED ALERT: THE FIGHT AGAINST FIBROIDS, which focuses on the difficult prognosis in women that leads to nearly 300,000 hysterectomy surgeries in the United States yearly.

100% of all rePRO Film Fest films are directed by individuals using she/her pronouns, while 67% are directed by BIPOC or AAPI individuals. All filmmakers are also being paid to screen their films.

The festival will once again present a "ChangemakeHER" Award to an individual who has dedicated their career to inspiring advocacy and awareness in a wholly unique way. This year's recipient will be Jonelle Procope, President and Chief Executive Officer of the historic Apollo Theater in New York City, who helped restore the theater to its original brilliance. Since 2003, Procope has led the Apollo, an American cultural treasure and vibrant non-profit organization that is rooted in the Harlem community but that speaks to, and welcomes, people from around New York, the nation and the world. Under her leadership, the Apollo has remained steadfast in its commitment to meeting the needs of its community while standing firm in what it has always been - a beacon for Black artists and contemporary culture, and a catalyst for social and civic advocacy. The rePRO team honors Procope for her commitment to the art of storytelling - particularly supporting people from historically marginalized communities - and its power to humanize lived experiences and catalyze important dialogue that can incite advocacy and awareness in a wholly unique way.

Special programming from THE LINEUP also includes 'Yoni Hour With Laura Bell Bundy' - a pre-festival celebratory virtual happy hour with singer/activist Laura Bell Bundy that will be available for free to stream as of Monday, August 2nd. Laura will be joined by her Women of Tomorrow album co-writer and podcast co-host, Shea Carter, to explore reproductive health issues facing women throughout history, and take an intimate look at both Bundy and Carter's personal journeys with their own experiences with reproductive justice.

The festival will also host rePRO's Call-to-Action Conversations - a series of engaging discussions with filmmakers, activists, and experts around various reproductive justice topics. The full conversation programming lineup will be announced in the weeks leading up to the festival.

rePRO Film Fest was founded by Mallory Martin, Lela Meadow-Conner and Debby Samples, who together have more than 40+ years of combined film festival experience. The trio has since been joined by women's reproductive rights leader Jill Lafer, the former board chair of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and entrepreneur.

"As we enter our second edition of rePRO Film Fest, we celebrate that for the first time in history our second-in-command has a uterus, but also recognize the threat to women's bodily autonomy remains constant - both around the world and here in the U.S.," said the founders Mallory Martin, Lela Meadow-Conner and Debby Samples. "Storytelling - especially film - is an incredible entry point into dialogue and discourse around reproductive justice. All too often, these issues become politicized and the women* behind these lived experiences are forgotten. We are thankful to the filmmakers who are brave enough to tell these stories and are also excited to highlight our three beneficiary organizations who are on the ground, doing the good work. We're honored to have the opportunity to connect them all with audiences across the country."

Each year, rePRO Film Fest identifies a handful of grassroots organizations to support through its platform and through ticket proceeds. All box office proceeds are converted to donations to be split evenly to support the missions of these essential organizations whose work for reproductive rights and justice impresses and inspires. The 2021 chosen beneficiaries include the all women-led Black Women's Health Imperative, Lilith Fund and No More Secrets.

To celebrate the latest edition of the festival, rePRO Film Fest has also partnered with actress Stephanie March's bespoke beauty line SHESPOKE to create a limited edition rePRO custom lipstick shade, which will be available in the coming weeks on shespokemakeup.com. A portion of proceeds from the limited edition product will go directly to the beneficiary organizations in the form of donations.

Individual tickets will have screening windows and will be available for $10 each; all-access passes ($75 each) will include the added benefit of on-demand access for all films playing at the festival. Both tickets and passes are on sale as of today, July 21st, online at reprofilmfest.com. Films are available to audiences across the US. In 2020, the inaugural rePRO Film Fest was enjoyed by audience members from twenty nine states.

The 2021 festival is presented in part by Bloomberg Philanthropies, Stober Lafer Foundation, Sheppard Foundation, the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund and Pam Schafler.

Follow @reprofilmfest on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for updates.

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