For Immediate Release:	February 28, 2005
For More Information:	Lisa Russell, Love, Lobor, Loss, lisa@lovelaborloss.com, 917-554-4126
Sponsor Organization:	LOVE, LABOR, LOSS
Release to coincide with Beijing+10 Conference at the United Nations
New York, NY -- LOVE, LABOR, LOSS, a documentary film and community organizing campaign aimed at raising awareness of obstetric fistula, is releasing a 15-minute Advocacy Video. Narrated by Tony-award winning actress Tonya Pinkins ("Caroline or Change") with music by Grammy-nominated Zap Mama (“Soul Music for the Diaspora”), the video is available to all organizations who wish to host screenings or distribute it as part of their own advocacy initiatives around global women’s health. The Advocacy Video will be presented to the NGO community during the Beijing +10 conference which takes place February 28 – March 11 at the United Nations headquarters in New, York. It is also available for preview on the film’s site at http://www.lovelaborloss.com Produced by NYC-based Governess Films and filmed last year in Niger, West Africa, LOVE, LABOR, LOSS profiles women living with obstetric fistula and a medical mission working to repair their injuries and give them a second chance at a normal life. Using a cinema verite style, the film follows women who have made the journey to the hospital and others who are making the journey back home. Through these moving personal stories, the film intimately explores this relatively unknown yet prevalent childbearing injury which leaves women childless, incontinent and ostracized from their communities. The documentary will draw audiences in through a compelling look at this heartbreaking injury of childbirth, and will be distributed with educational materials to inform audiences of socio-economic factors - such as early pregnancies, gender inequity and poverty - that perpetuate fistula and the need for greater investment in safe motherhood programs. "LOVE, LABOR, LOSS is intended be used at the community level for advocacy and fundraising purposes, during the weeks of Beijing + 10 and beyond,” states Carrie Svingen, Producer. “Organizations can use the film to educate their communities about fistula and to make the connection that investing in women’s health is investing in a better world.” "There are few film-based resources available on fistula. Our intent is to use the power of storytelling to increase awareness of fistula throughout 2005,” adds Lisa Russell, Director/Producer. “Some of the important social holidays we are organizing screenings and media events around include International Women's Day (March 8), World Health Day (April 7) and Mother's Day (May 8)." The project is supported thus far by leading global women’s health organizations including Campaign to End Fistula, EngenderHealth, International Center for Research on Women and Feminist Majority Foundation. "We think LOVE, LABOR, LOSS will be a powerful tool to reach and mobilize young women about global women's rights," stated Katherine Spillar, Executive Vice President of the Feminist Majority Foundation. "We plan to distribute it as part of our nationwide Choices Campus Leadership Program which reaches students on 1,575 college campuses across the United States." “We are planning to use LOVE, LABOR, LOSS to educate a broad array of constituents on the vital importance of our work to eradicate fistula,” offered Mary Nell Wegner, Manager of the Maternal Health Program at EngenderHealth. “The video’s compelling imagery and hard-hitting messages will be effective with donors, policy makers and the media.” Other groups which have expressed interest in screening the film include prominent universities, congressional representatives, corporations, and African-based NGOs. The goal of the campaign, state the producers, is to make 2005 the year the world learns about fistula. Organizations interested in becoming partners or ordering a copy of the film should visit http://www.lovelaborloss.com. Interview opportunities with celebrity supporters, filmmakers, doctors and organizational sponsors available upon request. For more information, contact: Carrie Svingen, Producer at carrie@lovelaborloss.com 646-209-0662 Lisa Russell, Producer/Director at lisa@lovelaborloss.com 917-554-4126