Fetus Envy
Click on image to watch film (rt: 13 mins)
About the Film...
Well...for years, thanks to Freud, women have been accused of penis envy. However, if you look at the historical behavior of men and their burning need/desire to control women–-their bodies, their sexuality, their reproductive rights, etc.–-it is actually the other way around. So the title seemed natural right from the start.
What made you decide to make this film?
Fetus Envy was originally written as a one-act play in 2003. At the time, I was a member of a now defunct theatre company called Urban Rock Project. As a direct response to the Bush administration’s Patriot Act, founder Rich Cole challenged company members to write plays that addressed the many ways in which our rights were being infringed upon (one addressed criminal justice, another marriage and civil unions, another capital punishment, right to privacy, etc). We ended up with ten one-acts which were produced in the NY International Fringe Festival under the title, Patriot Acts: The Constitution Project.
In 2012, with the trans-vaginal controversy and Congress refusing to let women speak on a panel about contraception (are you kidding me!), I got angry all over again and realized that my play was more pertinent now than when I first wrote it. So I decided to shoot it as a film and post it to youtube in, in hopes of it being a call to action.
Then, at some point during the filmmaking process, we discovered an article about the criminalization of pregnant women due to the personhood bill (and one article then led to another). It was at this point that we realized the film, while a work of fiction, was more life-like and less satirical than we’d thought and that “the not too distant future” was NOW.
The war on women is real — and dangerous. This isn’t about left or right. This is about putting the power of women’s health and reproductive rights back where it belongs:
IN THE HANDS OF WOMEN
Fetus Envy, it’s not just a film; it’s a movement!
Q: Who’s behind the film?
A: A wonderful group of passionate people who we’d love to give credit and thanks!
Cast & Crew...
Jeanette Bonner
(Mrs. Sturgeon) Recent New York credits include original one-acts with Magic Futurebox Productions, Ars Nova and Primary Stages, and “A Christmas Carol” (Ghost of Christmas Past) at the DeBaun Performing Arts Center. She has toured nationally in “Sesame Street Live”, “The Bully” (Vital Theatre Company), and “Spell in the Well and Other Tales” (Shoestring Players). She is a company member of National Comedy Theater and performs in their weekly improv comedy show. Jeanette received a BA in Theater and Dance from Trinity College in Hartford, CT, and is currently performing her 60-minute one-woman show in this July’s Midtown International Theatre Festival, about falling in love with your high school crush, who doesn’t really like you in that way. www.jeanettebonner.com.
Jonathan Tindle (Prosecutor). FILM/TV: Wired City, Law & Order, All My Children, The Hunley, The Pitch, The Day Lincoln Was Shot, The Gentleman, Full Moon Fables. THEATRE: The Family Room, The Real Thing, The Bacchae 2.1, Not All Korean Girls Can Fly, The Last Castrato, Maud ~ The Madness, The Pavilion, Available Light, Three Sisters, The Swan, The Caretaker, etc. SAG Peer Award, Theatre Lobby Award, Innovative Theatre and three Helen Hayes Award nominations. www.vimeo.com/7106243
Jessica Arinella (Defense Attorney) Selected NYC credits include: Tape, Break at NY Stage & Film directed by Geoffrey Nauffts and The Democracy Project opposite Mark Margolis all with The Naked Angels. What are the Odds? (selection Cannes Short Film Market), For Belly, and A Yorkshire Fairie Tale all with On the Leesh Productions. TV shows include Rescue Me, Law and Order, Love Monkey and Six Degrees-and the three popular webs series, The In-betweens of Holly Malone, In the Can and The Sexually which won best comedy at the LA Web Series Festival. She is also the creator of What You Can Do which has appeared on WNET affiliates thirteen and WLIW in New York, and for which she won the Citizen Rock star Award from Live a Damn Radio. Whatyoucando.com.
Larry Floyd (Court Officer) is also a Playwright and Director. In 2011 he was the Guest Artist for TROIKA Bermuda’s Work in Progress 3, where he created and directed “Misunderstood. Acting Credits Include King Lear with Trezana Beverley, Jump Jim Crow (MITF award Best Supporting Actor) Hamlet, Split Second with John McDonald, SANGO, Lord of Thunder (National Black Theatre), Miss Evers Boys, King Lear with Avery Brooks (Yale Repertory), Jesus Christ Superstar, Purlie, You Can’t Take it With You, A Streetcar Named Desire, In The Blood, Seven Guitars and many others. Lawrence has studied with Barbara Montgomery, June Stein, Mary T. Boyer, Petronia Paley and Beth McGuire among others. He has written The Purple Pill, Black Face Jesus, the Burning of Electric City, Movin’ To a Beat of Our Own, Better Brother, Talk Back Sylvia, Consider Mary and the children’s show, The Day the Sun Went for a Walk.
Matt Rashid (Mr. Sturgeon) New York Theatre: Rosa Loses Her Face, A Yorkshire Faire Tale, The Fear Project (Naked Angels, dir. Rob Morrow), The Naked Angels Lab (Premiere), The Democracy Project (Naked Angels, dir. Pippin Parker), Sin: An Old Fashioned Spectacle of Legendary Vice (On the Leesh Productions), Syria, America (Emerging Artists Theatre). New York Stage & Film: Break: Surviving the Recovery (On the Leesh Productions & Naked Angels, w/ Tony award winner Frank Wood). New York Stand-up Comedy: Caroline’s Comedy Club, Gotham Comedy Club, Don’t Tell Mama’s, Nuyorican Poet’s Café. Film & Television Credits include: “Law & Order” (NBC), “Mad About You” (NBC), “Table for Three” (On the Leesh Productions), “Soap Scum” (On the Leesh Productions), “Someone to Love” (Oracle Pictures). Web series: “The In-Betweens of Holly Malone”, “In the Can”, “The Sexually” all available at www.blip.tv and www.koldcast.tv. MFA, Actor’s Studio Drama Program, The New School.
Scott Glascock (Judge) Film and television credits include Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Zalla’s Sangre de mi Sangre (Grand Jury Prize for Best Drama, Sundance), Julika Rudelius’ Rites, “One Life to Live” and “Guiding Light.” Scott was last seen onstage as Horatio Alger, Jr. in the Metropolitan Playhouse production of The Return of Ragged Dick. His many other theatre credits include Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Why We Shot John, The Flashing Stream, Table Manners, The Tempest, Entertaining Mr. Sloane, Company, Drood and Guys and Dolls. Scott has been owned by several generations of dachshunds.
CREW:
Writer, Director, Executive Producer:
Melissa Maxwell
Producer:
David Matthew Douglas is a New York-based Producer of Film, Television and Digital Media. Since 2009 he has been an Executive Producer of RIPFEST Collaborative Film Project for which he has guided production of more than 15 film projects. In addition he has produced four short films: “Dottie’s Thanksgiving Pickle” (starring Academy Award Winner Olympia Dukakis), “Wolfman, DDS” (with SNL’s Will Forte), “The Poets” and “Fetus Envy”. Television production credits include “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” at NBC, “The Bedford Diaries” at the WB Network, “The TV Land Awards”, and several projects in Development at the Oxygen Network. David Matthew Douglas is a New York-based Producer of Film, Television and Digital Media. Since 2009 he has been an Executive Producer of RIPFEST Collaborative Film Project (www.ripfest.com) for which he has guided production of more than 15 film projects. In addition he has produced four short films: “Dottie’s Thanksgiving Pickle” (starring Academy Award Winner Olympia Dukakis), “Wolfman, DDS” (with SNL’s Will Forte), “The Poets” and “Fetus Envy”. Television production credits include “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” at NBC, “The Bedford Diaries” at the WB Network, “The TV Land Awards”, and several projects in Development at the Oxygen Network. www.davidmatthewdouglas.com.
Director of Photography:
Sarah Anderson is a cinematographer establishing herself in New York City. She has been taking pictures for as long as she can remember, and working on film and television projects since 2000. A graduate from Clark University, her love for photography transitioned to a passion for cinematography during those years. While in school she worked for a TV station, shooting local interest stories. Since then she has worked in media. Sarah’s recent professional experience includes shooting a number of independent films, music videos and commercials in the DC and NYC areas.
Editor:
Lousine Shamamian Composer: Scott O’Brien
Costume Designer:
Jennifer Hurlbert
Production Sound Mixer:
Chad Sonenberg Assistant Camera: Chris Eng
1st Assistant Director:
Mike Sokolov
Production Assistant:
Taylor Graham
Production Assistant:
Adam Macomb Production Assistant: Chartaye Thompson Communications Strategist: Nathalie Molina Niño
THE PRODUCERS WISH TO EXPRESSLY THANK THE FOLLOWING FOR THEIR GENEROUS CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FILM:
Jodi & Daniel Glucksman
Ted Lange, Todd Cowdery, Valerie Cihylik, Alicia Arinella, Nathalie Molina Niño
Karen Hurley, Susan Baydur, Allston James & Rachel Leslie Weintraub, Lorca Peress Ronald Wyche
ADDITIONAL THANKS:
Judy Tate, Kannon Mennon, Kenny Roberson, Melody Brooks, Deborah Savadge & the Playwrights Gallery, Rich Cole and Urban Rock Project, Susan Wands, Stephen Bradbury, L. Trey Wilson, Daniele Tate Melia, Jeffrey Harmon Smith, John Mancuso, Sarita Covington, Harriet Fraad, Michael Smith and Lisa Jaye
