Private Project

Born Free

American mothers are in crisis. The multitude of issues affecting American families have only been exasperated by the pandemic.

With healthcare and reproductive rights at a forefront of the news cycle. Born Free is a timely deep dive into what it is like to have a baby in modern day America. Asking questions like why do so many women experience PTSD after birth? Emergency Surgery? Anxiety issues? Or Bankruptcy?

Let’s start with some simple facts; We are the country with the most expensive healthcare in the world. Yet our maternal MORTALITY rate has RISEN 30 percent in the last 15 years.

Facts which alone should give us all a moment's pause. But more than just an expose on "just” why we have the worst maternal mortality rate in the developed world.

If birth and pregnancy are our lens on how a society values it’s women. Why is it a fight that women in the US are losing more often and not less? A fight birthing people have to undertake when feeling at our most vulnerable.

A fight that has statistically awful outcomes for women of color. A fight against a lack of informed choice, against medical overreach and sometimes abuse. A fight for bodily autonomy, against systemic racism, sexism, poverty, and big pharma. Potentially even a fight for our lives.

An unexpected journey of discovery from first time director Paula James-Martinez, created with an all female crew. It's time we really talked about the real cost of giving birth.

  • Paula James-Martinez
    Director
  • Paula James-Martinez
    Writer
  • Steph Zenee Perez
    Writer
    Lorena
  • Rebecca Dayan
    Producer
    Across My Land
  • Chanel Porchia-Albert
    Producer
  • Lianne Turner
    Producer
    CNN
  • Paula James-Martinez
    Producer
  • Sara Ojjeh
    Producer
  • Claire Olshan
    Producer
  • Vanessa Hope
    Producer
    "William Kunstler: Disturbing The Universe, Tombee De Nuit Sur Shanghai,The Story Of Ermei,
  • Paula James-Martinez
    Key Cast
  • Chanel Porchia-Albert
    Key Cast
  • Charles Johnson
    Key Cast
  • The Farm Midwives
    Key Cast
  • Senator Tammy Duckworth
    Key Cast
  • Rep Joe Kennedy
    Key Cast
  • Rep Jaime Herrera Beutler
    Key Cast
  • Rep Lauren Underwood
    Key Cast
  • Christy Turlington
    Key Cast
  • Kimberly Turbin
    Key Cast
  • Amy Richards
    Key Cast
  • Lynne Paltrow
    Key Cast
  • Jen Sinconis
    Key Cast
  • Gae Rodke MD
    Key Cast
  • Emiliano Chavira MD
    Key Cast
  • Dawn Thompson
    Key Cast
  • Barbara Vernéus
    Key Cast
  • Mother Creative Agency Team
    Key Cast
  • Amber Price, DNP, CNM as Chief Operating Officer for TriStar Centennial Women’s Hospital
    Key Cast
  • David Harbor
    Supporting
  • Keegan Michael Key
    Supporting
  • Ian Somerhalder
    Supporting
  • Waris Ahluwalia
    Supporting
  • Chris Abbot
    Supporting
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Genres:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 39 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    November 15, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    200,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital 4k
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Distribution Information
  • CAA
    Sales Agent
    Country: Worldwide
Director Biography - Paula James-Martinez

Born in Essex, just outside of London and now living in Upstate NY with her daughter, husband and two dogs.

Paula started her career when moved to the big city aged 17 to start fashion school. However, when her father died suddenly just a year into her studies, she dropped out and got an assistant job at one of the UK's best know indie style magazines, Dazed and Confused. This almost accidental choice meant she went on to spend 10 years as Fashion Editor at magazines both in Europe and the US, her most recent role was as Fashion Director of Refinery29.

On having had her first child Luna, a series of events made her ask questions about the way in which birthing people where treated in this country? Wanting the conversation to grow beyond the shadows of her newly postpartum friends whispered experiences and into a national conversation her first feature BORN FREE went into gestation.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I have spent my entire life telling stories to women through the pages of glossy magazines. But nothing quite as vital as the stories shared in BORN FREE.

After all the research I did when expecting my daughter, I turned to my husband aghast with how mothers were being treated in the US. A country with one of the highest costs of birth in the world, yet the developed worlds only rising mortality rate. He said fine, do something about it.

So BORN FREE is my answer: a film trying to take a very complex problem, one that many do not think is even something we need to talk about, and ask everyone "perhaps we all need to rethink how “ok” we assume our nation's mothers are?"

And while not shying away from tough topics like personhood and racism I also wanted to treat it all in an accessible way, sometimes with humour and absurdity, because becoming a parent is joyful and hopeful and ugly and painful all at once.