rePROFilm Podcast rePRO Film

The idea for “Simone” came to writer-director Aisha Amin after countless hours on public transit observing parents and other caretakers struggling with young children. For our Vol. 16 Periodical Podcast, Asha Dahya speaks with Amin about how she developed the title character in collaboration with actress Cree McClellan, a single mother herself. 
Support the showIf you haven’t already, subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you will get each episode of the pod straight to your inbox. Learn more at reprofilm.org or at @reprofilm The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!

Periodical Podcast host Asha Dahya chats with “Counterfeit Kunkoo” writer/director Reema Maya Sengupta about how her mother’s struggle to find housing as a single woman inspired her to write a “very angry script.” In a lovely full-circle moment, Reema’s mom served as the producer of the film and helped secure many of the set locations in the Mumbai slum where she grew up. 
Support the showIf you haven’t already, subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you will get each episode of the pod straight to your inbox. Learn more at reprofilm.org or at @reprofilm The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!

Welcome to our March episode of the rePROFilm podcast. It’s Women’s History Month, and it’s also Oscars month, and we are SO excited to speak with two Academy Award-nominated filmmakers in this episode! 
Our theme this month is virginity - the conversations we have about it, the cultural taboos, the societal expectations, the ridiculous gender expectations, and why, when it comes to sexuality and youth, focusing on healthy communication rather than shame or fear-based messaging, is perhaps a better way forward. 
And what a better and more effective way to share messaging, than in film. In this month’s rePRO Periodical we are highlighting a short film called ‘My Year of Dicks’, which is an Academy Award contender for Best Short Animated Film, written and created by Pamela Ribon and directed by Sara Gunnarsdóttir. 
It’s based on Pamela’s 2014 memoir, “Notes to Boys (and Other Things I Shouldn’t Share in Public)” which documents her resolution to lose her virginity as a 15-year-old in 1991 while growing up on the outskirts of Houston. The film is broken down into 5 chapters and five different awkward sexual encounters, with some kinda douchey guys. Style-wise, it’s giving me 90’s MTV vibes - with a moody, grunge soundtrack, a mixture of real film footage of a teenage Pamela, and some bold yet sensitive animation from Sara. 
Now if you aren’t familiar with the names Pamela Ribon and Sara Gunnarsdóttir, you definitely know their work. Pamela is a writer, best known for her work on Disney’s Moana and Ralph Breaks the Internet. She’s a best-selling novelist, and co-host of the podcast Listen To Sassy, a weekly deep-dive through every issue of Sassy Magazine. 
Sara is a director and artist from Iceland who has created animation, music videos, and original artwork for film and television, including Marielle Heller’s debut feature “The Diary of a Teenage Girl,” and HBO’s Emmy-nominated “The Case Against Adnan Sayed.” She is one of 3 Icelandic artists nominated in various categories at the Academy Awards this year, and in keeping with Women’s History Month, Sara is the first Icelandic female director to be nominated for an Oscar! 
We hope you will enjoy this conversation filled with sexual innuendos, lots of giggles, and a powerful conversation about how we dismantle harmful ideas around virginity. Take a listen to our interview! 


Support the showIf you haven’t already, subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you will get each episode of the pod straight to your inbox. Learn more at reprofilm.org or at @reprofilm The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!

REHEARSAL with special guest Courtney Hope Thérond
The “Rehearsal” writer/director talks to Asha Dahya on the Periodical Podcast about how her own on-set experiences inspired her short film. Maybe if she could demonstrate how intimacy scenes can go awry, she thought, others might understand how problems can arise even between people who trust, care for, and respect each other. Tune in to find out how audiences reacted.


Support the showIf you haven’t already, subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you will get each episode of the pod straight to your inbox. Learn more at reprofilm.org or at @reprofilm The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!

With special guests “Miso” director Kelly Walker, writer/director/producer Mariah Bess, and actor/producer Alex Sgambati
Asha Dahya speaks with three women behind “Miso,” a short film about a doula-assisted, at-home abortion. The trio talk about how they want “Miso” to be an entrance point for audiences to learn about abortion doulas, abortion pills, and Plan C, the organization that gives people the information they need to safely end their own pregnancies at home. They also chat about combining advocacy and narrative, creating their ideal on-set experience, and their Oscar campaign.
“I knew that I wanted to tell a story about relationships and how people come together through these embodied processes … I wanted to show how a person moves through this moment in their life and how they connect with another person in real time.” — Mariah Bess
Support the showIf you haven’t already, subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you will get each episode of the pod straight to your inbox. Learn more at reprofilm.org or at @reprofilm The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!

Our featured short film this month has got us thinking about family support systems, awkward parental conversations, and how repro rights and health care is actually inextricably linked to all of that.

The short film we’re excited to present in December is called La Macana, directed and written by Maria Mealla. The film follows recently divorced Carmen and Franco who work through their fervent relationship to support their daughter Sol when she gets her period for the first time. Just reading that sentence aloud immediately gives me flashbacks to when I first got my period, and oof it was rough. My parents are so loving and supportive, but the taboos around menstruation and anything “female” related were so tangible, my dad would literally change the channel whenever one of those ads came on TV where you’d see blue liquid being poured onto a pad or a tampon. You know exactly which ones are talking about.


Support the showIf you haven’t already, subscribe to our monthly newsletter where you will get each episode of the pod straight to your inbox. Learn more at reprofilm.org or at @reprofilm The rePROFilm Podcast is executive produced by mamafilm. Looking forward to bringing you our next conversation!