ABOUT THE FILM
Inside makeshift tents on the US-Mexico border, across the resource-scarce areas of northern Nigeria, and in the encampment parks and shelters of Toronto, the high-risk neighbourhoods of Colombia, and the remote mountainous regions of Afghanistan, courageous midwives are risking their own safety and wellbeing to attend to expectant mothers. Through astounding access to these precarious environments and to the dedicated women working with scant resources and minimal support, director Nance Ackerman captures the ever-evolving risks and high stakes of each place as the midwives navigate care with traditional medicine and enduring native healing practices. A triumph of expansive, urgent storytelling with a global focus, The Delivery Line makes visible the undervalued work of some of the most compassionate people working in the direst of circumstances and foregrounds the profound sense of purpose and joy they derive from their critical, lifesaving work.
…Mariam Zaidi Hot Docs
Almost a decade in the making, The Delivery Line was inspired by the work of Gulbadan in remote Afghanistan who left her family to be trained as a rural midwife. She had lost two babies of her own and some of her beloved family members and her determination was an inspiration for the filmmakers. Afghan Canadian filmmaker, Ariel Nasr and Nova Scotian filmmaker, Nance Ackerman, worked together there to begin documenting her life at the school. They continued to write and develop the film with Montreal Producer, Sergeo Kirby at Loaded Pictures.
With the support of our Broadcaster, TVO, and all the funders, we were able to travel to some of the world’s most precarious places to celebrate these women and the work they do to save lives of women and children.
We chose countries dealing with conflict and crisis - climate change, migration, terrorism, homelessness.
And we chose to approach these global issues with hopeful female lens.
What People Are Saying
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The Delivery Line: Midwives on the Frontline is a moving portrait of the vital role midwives play in providing care to those who need it most.
— Courtney Small, That Shelf
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As important as it is unmissable – a crucial documentary that follows five exceptional women who show us that there is far more to midwifery than we could imagine. ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
— Upcoming on Screen
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A beautiful and deeply humane documentary that does not turn the hardship these women endure into spectacle
— Guilherme Quireza, Pop Matters
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An unflinching yet compassionate look at the realities of giving birth around the world.
— Rachel West, Alliance of Women Film Journalists
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The Delivery Line reframes Midwives' healing arts.
— Susan G Cole, POV Magazine
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Powerful and important. This film needs to be shown in schools...it reframes crises that are often told through a male lens in cinema. ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
— Radek Valicka, Frame Dispatch