The Louisiana International Film Festival is kicking off its 2016 five-day run with a special presentation on April 13, emphasizing this year’s festival theme of women.
On Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., supermodel-turned-activist Christy Turlington Burns will be hosting a special presentation of, “Giving Birth in America,” a new three-part documentary series released by “Every Mother Counts,” a maternal health non-profit organization founded by Turlington Burns.
The presentation by the Louisiana Film Society will be accompanied by a Q&A with Turlington Burns after the screening.
“Giving Birth in America” examines the state of maternal healthcare in the U.S., one of only eight countries in the world where the maternal mortality rate is rising.
Each segment of the docuseries follows pregnant women in Florida, Montana and New York, and explores how different aspects, such as race, poverty and illness, affect each of their deliveries.
This is the second year the festival chose women’s films as its theme since its inception four years ago.
LIFF executive director Chesley Heymsfield said the mission of the festival is to reflect the culture and the environment around it.
“I think that one of the things that is important for an international film festival and one that is community-driven is to pay attention to what the heartbeat is in the community,” she said. “I do think that there is a national conversation happening about women and women’s rights, and a lot of activism is taking place around women.”
The headlining film for LIFF, “Presenting Princess Shaw,” is a documentary telling the story of Samantha Montgomery, a performer from New Orleans who was discovered on YouTube.
Montgomery will be at LIFF on April 16 to give a special presentation of her film at 4:30 p.m., along with a Q&A and performance after.
“It’s really interesting to have people like that who you can look at and know that you can do it, too, who are from here,” Heymsfield said.
Of the 42 films to make up the festival program, many of them have women as the primary subject or character, including “Ingrid Bergman,” “Miss Sharon Jones,” “Marguerite,” “Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise,” “Vita Activa” and “L’Attesa.”
“I think that it’s important for our film festival to always reflect what is current, what is new, what is fresh, what is the future,” Heymsfield said. “And so we reflect that with the films we play — but we [also] reflect it with the theme and the vibe and the feel we present.”