Black Maternal Health Week 2026

Extended through May 1o, 2026

Special Screening

Insightful and poetic, Birth! Place? invites audiences to examine their assumptions about who is “fit” to give birth and under what circumstances. Filmed in 2019 amid the closure of Washington, DC’s obstetric care units, and during a period when rising maternal and infant mortality rates, especially among Black women, were making headlines, the documentary unfolds alongside critical policy debates. As city leaders considered funding doulas and recognizing certified professional midwives, the film’s protagonist makes a quiet yet profoundly subversive choice—one that centers her safety, dignity, and bodily autonomy.

This award-winning documentary serves as a powerful case study for medical practitioners, birth workers, and filmmakers alike, exploring the intersections of reproductive justice, housing instability, and birth outcomes for Black women.