Wise Women

 
"Birth doesn't stick to any shooting schedule": The director Nicole Scherg accompanies five midwives in Ethiopia, Brazil, Morocco, Nepal and Austria to create a powerful documentary about how we come to exist.


They are the women who first laid eyes on us when we arrived: This documentary's five heroines have been present at thousands of births and are experts in the most important thing in life – helping mothers to deliver their children. The director Nicole Scherg accompanies Genet Gebru from Ethiopia, Morocco's "Hajja" Aïcha El Fathi, Kanchan Mala Shrestha from Nepal, the Austrian Gunda Gutscher and Brazil's Sheila Santos, as well as mothers who depend on them during pregnancy and childbirth. 

These are challenging periods, during which women are particularly vulnerable. Having expert care and support can make all the difference. Midwives help to explain physical changes that occur, describe processes, and find ways to ensure that women can give birth the way they choose to, patiently watching over the mothers-to-be as they wait for the big moment. 

These professionals also understand the circumstances within which births take place: The film makes it abundantly clear that the health of women is always dependent on economic and social conditions in their surroundings. From contraception to the moment of birth itself, women's reproductive health is an intensely political issue and closely related to education. Kanchan Mala Shrestha holds sexual education classes for giggling Nepalese teenagers, Austria's Gunda Gutscher advocates for home births, and, in Brazil, Sheila Santos fits intrauterine devices (also known as coils) if women want them. How women give birth is of relevance to all of us, as all of us were once born. 

Midwives are an important part of this physiological process, which is both universal and yet invariably intensely personal, whether it occurs in a high-tech operating room, in a birthing center administered by women, or in a village during a downpour. They are reliable guides from one world to another, with a deep understanding of the unpredictability of life and the resources to navigate transformational change.

Nicole Scherg worked with an all-female core team to make WISE WOMEN, including the camera operator Maria-Thérèse Zumtobel, the sound recordist Eva Hausberger, the editor Natalie Schwager, and dedicated helpers on location. After the success of the films THE FUTURE IS BETTER THAN ITS REPUTATION and LIFE ISN'T A REHEARSAL, Nicole Scherg once again creates captivating portraits of people who have devoted themselves to fundamental aspects of human life. In this case, our very beginnings on this planet.

"Birth is the most common yet most exceptional event in the world. A force of nature that pushes everyone to their limits: those giving birth, those being born, and those who are there to provide assistance," Nicole Scherg explains. The women she portrays in this moving film hold the future in their hands – metaphorically and literally.