Guardians of Birth: Film about Doulas, Midwives and Empowered Births

One film, nine conversations, nine themes, which give voice to professionals in a broad view of pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood. A call for debate on Humanized Childbirth in Portugal.

The film “Guardiãs do Nascimento” wants to give voice to the Guardians of Birth that exist in Portugal. Through nine conversations between several professionals, we will reflect and share essential tools about pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum, breastfeeding, preconception or pregnancy loss. Focusing on humanized natural childbirth and women's empowerment, this film tells us about women's inner power and the importance of understanding their physiology and intuition. We believe that empowered and respectful natural childbirth is the way for expectant mothers to truly choose and make informed decisions about their pregnancy and childbirth. We also address the issues of obstetric and gynecological violence, where pregnant people are often left out of decision-making and their actions, where the lack of information and consent disrespects the rights to participate in decisions regarding the delivery process.

In early 2022, we started shooting the film, which was only possible thanks to many hours of voluntary work and the support of many doulas and partnerships with the Portuguese Association for the Rights of Women in Pregnancy and Childbirth, Portuguese Network of Doulas, Acegis, Câmara Municipality of Marvão, Zona Franca nos  Anjos, Espaço Nascer, Feministas em Movimento and Universidade Lusófona.

We are sure that the screening of the film will bring a lot of visibility to the theme of humanized childbirth in Portugal. However, there are costs inherent to its finalization that we are unable to ensure by ourselves, and that is why we are counting on your help so that the film can be finalized and shown to the public.

What is the total cost of the project?

Like any feature film, the film went through the steps of research, script writing, production, equipment purchase, travel, testimonials, images and sound, digitalization, content cutting, editing, soundtrack, sound and color treatment , etc. The total budget is around 50 thousand euros. We pay a good part of the amount with personal resources, we stopped being paid for our work (production, script, direction, editing, photography, etc.), but some outsourced professionals still haven't been paid for their services.

We raised €2,000.00 during filming, which we used to pay for travel, food and accommodation for the team. The amount we need now, 15,000 euros, will be mainly to cover the costs of Image Finalization and Promotion of the film.

If you believe in the cause of the humanization of birth and want to help change the Portuguese obstetric reality, we have created a means of financial contribution through a secure crowdfunding system, PPL Portugal.

Support our film and help us humanize the way people are born in Portugal!

About the author

Cinthia Matos

“Doular for me is trust. It means believing in the wisdom of a woman's body and the importance of preparing her for motherhood. I believe that the connection between women is a valuable factor for women to reconnect with their ancestral heritage and that prepares them in a conscious and informed way for the moment of giving birth. “ Born in Luxembourg, she trained as a Doula in 2016 with Luísa Condeço. Since then, she has accompanied pregnant women throughout their pregnancy, delivery, postpartum and termination of pregnancy. Since a young age, she has been passionate about community development, non-formal education and sociocracy.

Laylla Coelho

“Doular, for me it is to be with another being to walk together a path of discoveries. It is having the honor, opportunity and gift of caring for unique beings like myself, it is also being able to support the internal and external search for respect for each being as it is, and the daily opportunity to rediscover our intuition and the path Self-Knowledge and Healing”. She completed her training in 2012 with Naoli Vivaner and participated in the Doulas Curitiba group. Over the years, she has accompanied around 40 pregnant women and their deliveries. She is a doula mentor of the Portuguese network of doulas, professor of Maternal and Child Nutrition at UniBrasil, hospital nutritionist, for 10 years, at the Hospital Infantil Joana de Gusmão.

Francisca Marvão

Graduated in Cinema, Video and Multimedia Communication at Universidade Lusófona in Lisbon. Attended the European course CIAKL-Cinema and Industry Alliance for Knowledge and Learning. It won first place in the category of best idea, best project and best deal with a documentary series. With the short film A Espiral da Morte dos Operários-Formiga, written and directed by her, she won an honorable mention in 2011 at the Zon awards and first place at the Erasmus Film Fest. In 2017, the short film O Descanso na Intensidade das Cores premiered at the Doclisboa festival and in 2019, her first feature film “Ela é uma Música” premiered at the IndieLisboa festival. In addition to films, she makes and edits video clips.

Diana Martins

She graduated in Artistic Studies at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Coimbra and completed a master's degree in Performing Arts at the Superior School of Theater and Cinema of the Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon. She did an internship in Italy as part of the non-scuola project with Teatro delle Albe, in 2016, and an internship at Teatro O Bando. From 2017 to 2022, she was a member of Associação Cultural Materiais Diversos, developing projects in the area of performing arts, and also coordinated the production and artistic mediation team that implements the regular programming. She was responsible for directing the production of the Festival of Materials Diverse and is also part of the Uma Ova collective and the Cura_dor_ia project, traveling between cinema and the visual arts, respectively.

Budget and due dates

The total budget is around 50 thousand euros. The shooting phase was guaranteed by our voluntary work (production, script, direction, editing, photography, etc.), and monetary and logistical support from some individual partners and institutions, but some outsourced professionals have not yet received payment for their services. To finish the film and promote it, we now need 15,000 euros.

Budget

Realization, Camera- 2 € 100.00

Image editing - € 1050.00

Argument and Consulting - €3000.00

Production and Camera- € 1 050.00

Cinematography and Colorist - €450.00

Perchista- €300.00

Production Assistant- €300.00

Sound installation- €300.00

Sound mix - €450.00

Translation - €600.00

Subtitling - €150.00

Soundtrack- €150.00

DVD copies - €750.00

Communication - €1500.00

Promotion Material- €300.00

External Disks - €150.00

Poster - €150.00

Festivals- €1200.00

Crowdfunding expenses- €1050.00

schedule

Assembly – December / January / February

Image post-production – February / March

Audio Post Production – February / March

We count on your support to be able to premiere the film and contribute to making the humanization of childbirth in Portugal a public matter!

Images