(public) at your cervix - a documentary
At Your Cervix
a film dedicated to making pelvic exams respectful and pain-free
16 July 2007
Dearest Family and Friends,
As many of you know, I have been directing and producing a documentary entitled 'At Your Cervix' for the last three-and-a-half years. I received a grant to take film and video courses at New School University and have been in school for the last two years in order to develop my skills to effectively make my first feature film.
'At Your Cervix' is about the ways students learn to perform breast and pelvic exams in U.S. medical and nursing institutions. Featuring Gynecological Teaching Associates (GTAs), the story will illuminate the history of breast and pelvic exams and the reasons so many women have such negative experiences with these annual visits to their health care providers. Many students learn these invasive exams on women who are under anesthesia while in teaching hospitals -- often without their consent! This film will expose this unethical practice and educate viewers about their rights as patients. Our hope is that the film will be a call to action, so that women, armed with the knowledge that these exams should be comfortable, will feel empowered to demand it; and that providers will want to provide the most comfortable and competent pelvic exams possible.
Check out our trailer (we can't put it on the site until we have a few more clearances, but in the meantime...) Feel free to share the trailer with people you know:
Trailer
http://www.atyourcervixmovie.com/multimedia/trailertest.mov
This project has been a true labor of love. My collaborators and I have funded 'At Your Cervix' out of pocket thus far and are beginning to do needed fundraisers in order to complete the film. This week I'm happy to announce that we are launching our website and I hope you'll take a look to see what it's all about. I am deeply committed to and involved in this project and we are moving into a heavy fundraising phase so we can see the film to completion. We are 75% through production and have the arduous task ahead of going through 100+ hours of footage in order to cut a 60 minute film. As much as I have joyfully learned about editing over the last two years, we need money to hire a professional editor, in addition to a number of other necessities as we approach post-production and distribution of the film. Our hope is that the film will enjoy a good run of the international film festival circuit and will be picked up by a cable channel or PBS for broadcast. We also hope it will become a staple of medical and nursing ethics courses. We plan to attend a filmmaker's market in New York this September in hopes of securing a distribution deal.
I am asking for your support. Here are three ways you can support 'At Your Cervix':
1. Make a personal donation.
2. Get your friends/family to donate and spread the word.
3. Host a fundraiser. If we are able, we will come and talk about the film. You organize the event and get the people there, and we'll show clips and talk about the project!
We need $75,000 to finish the film. IFP (The Independent Feature Project) has agreed to be our fiscal sponsor, so you can donate tax-free through IFP. Any amount you can give will help. To give you an idea: $25 buys a pack of mini DV tapes; $50 buys us DVDs so we can send copies of our trailer to funding agencies and festivals; $100 buys us 2 hours of a cameraperson's labor; $400 will buy us one hour of a professional post-production session; $2000 would buy us a week of editing, which will begin this October.
To support the project, please go to our website at www.atyourcervixmovie.com and click on the 'support us' link. You can make a tax-deductible donation by downloading the form and sending it to IFP with your check, or if you don't care about the tax break, just donate to us through PayPal (and we won't lose any of the money for our fiscal sponsor fee). Whatever you donate absolutely 100% of the money we receive will go towards the completion of the film.
I would be so grateful if you could support this project. Any amount of money or energy you can give would be a blessing. It all adds up. Our current campaign goal is to get 1,000 people to give $20. One friend has committed to getting 20 people to donate $20. If you can commit to getting a certain number of people to donate, that will help us reach our goal. Support 'At Your Cervix' because you care about women's health; support it because you know doctors need competent training; or support it just because you care about me!
If you can't give to the project right now, I appreciate your just considering it. Thanks for supporting me in all the ways you do. Whatever you are currently pursuing in your life, I hope this finds you happy and healthy.
With much gratitude,
Amy Jo
our gynecology models were so wonderful and amazing. it's a really incredible opportunity to have people willing to share their bodies, getting like 3-4 pelvic exams in a day (or prostate exams, for the men), so that we can learn to do better exams and provide better care. it never occurred to me that there was another way to learn it, frankly, but if this film can help shed light on what a better way models are than using someone "while they're out," i'm definitely supporting it.
a film dedicated to making pelvic exams respectful and pain-free
16 July 2007
Dearest Family and Friends,
As many of you know, I have been directing and producing a documentary entitled 'At Your Cervix' for the last three-and-a-half years. I received a grant to take film and video courses at New School University and have been in school for the last two years in order to develop my skills to effectively make my first feature film.
'At Your Cervix' is about the ways students learn to perform breast and pelvic exams in U.S. medical and nursing institutions. Featuring Gynecological Teaching Associates (GTAs), the story will illuminate the history of breast and pelvic exams and the reasons so many women have such negative experiences with these annual visits to their health care providers. Many students learn these invasive exams on women who are under anesthesia while in teaching hospitals -- often without their consent! This film will expose this unethical practice and educate viewers about their rights as patients. Our hope is that the film will be a call to action, so that women, armed with the knowledge that these exams should be comfortable, will feel empowered to demand it; and that providers will want to provide the most comfortable and competent pelvic exams possible.
Check out our trailer (we can't put it on the site until we have a few more clearances, but in the meantime...) Feel free to share the trailer with people you know:
Trailer
http://www.atyourcervixmovie.com/multimedia/trailertest.mov
This project has been a true labor of love. My collaborators and I have funded 'At Your Cervix' out of pocket thus far and are beginning to do needed fundraisers in order to complete the film. This week I'm happy to announce that we are launching our website and I hope you'll take a look to see what it's all about. I am deeply committed to and involved in this project and we are moving into a heavy fundraising phase so we can see the film to completion. We are 75% through production and have the arduous task ahead of going through 100+ hours of footage in order to cut a 60 minute film. As much as I have joyfully learned about editing over the last two years, we need money to hire a professional editor, in addition to a number of other necessities as we approach post-production and distribution of the film. Our hope is that the film will enjoy a good run of the international film festival circuit and will be picked up by a cable channel or PBS for broadcast. We also hope it will become a staple of medical and nursing ethics courses. We plan to attend a filmmaker's market in New York this September in hopes of securing a distribution deal.
I am asking for your support. Here are three ways you can support 'At Your Cervix':
1. Make a personal donation.
2. Get your friends/family to donate and spread the word.
3. Host a fundraiser. If we are able, we will come and talk about the film. You organize the event and get the people there, and we'll show clips and talk about the project!
We need $75,000 to finish the film. IFP (The Independent Feature Project) has agreed to be our fiscal sponsor, so you can donate tax-free through IFP. Any amount you can give will help. To give you an idea: $25 buys a pack of mini DV tapes; $50 buys us DVDs so we can send copies of our trailer to funding agencies and festivals; $100 buys us 2 hours of a cameraperson's labor; $400 will buy us one hour of a professional post-production session; $2000 would buy us a week of editing, which will begin this October.
To support the project, please go to our website at www.atyourcervixmovie.com and click on the 'support us' link. You can make a tax-deductible donation by downloading the form and sending it to IFP with your check, or if you don't care about the tax break, just donate to us through PayPal (and we won't lose any of the money for our fiscal sponsor fee). Whatever you donate absolutely 100% of the money we receive will go towards the completion of the film.
I would be so grateful if you could support this project. Any amount of money or energy you can give would be a blessing. It all adds up. Our current campaign goal is to get 1,000 people to give $20. One friend has committed to getting 20 people to donate $20. If you can commit to getting a certain number of people to donate, that will help us reach our goal. Support 'At Your Cervix' because you care about women's health; support it because you know doctors need competent training; or support it just because you care about me!
If you can't give to the project right now, I appreciate your just considering it. Thanks for supporting me in all the ways you do. Whatever you are currently pursuing in your life, I hope this finds you happy and healthy.
With much gratitude,
Amy Jo
our gynecology models were so wonderful and amazing. it's a really incredible opportunity to have people willing to share their bodies, getting like 3-4 pelvic exams in a day (or prostate exams, for the men), so that we can learn to do better exams and provide better care. it never occurred to me that there was another way to learn it, frankly, but if this film can help shed light on what a better way models are than using someone "while they're out," i'm definitely supporting it.