Small Family, Happy Family

Tue, 30 Jul 2019 08:33:04 GMT

Small Family, Happy Family
Buy Now: $295.00

"Marry young, have two children, and get sterilized" is the advice women across India have heard for decades. Families, health workers, the central government all spread the same message. With limited information about other forms of birth control, sterilization is the only option for many. This lack of choice is not an oversight by the government; rather, it's a deliberate policy aimed at controlling India's growing population. Women are corralled into temporary "camps" where hundreds are sterilized at a time. Quality is sacrificed for quantity; individual attention for efficiency.

Small Family, Happy Family follows Mitilesh, a young woman from rural Madhya Pradesh, as she is recruited by health workers in her village to undergo sterilization and decides with her husband to pursue the surgery. Her story is situated in the larger context of population control in India, revealing how these policies affect the lives of women. The film offers a highly personal glimpse into the lives of women positioned at the turbulent nexus of government policy and reproductive rights. In Mitilesh we see so many other women – in India and in our own countries – who also have tenuous control over their bodies and choices.

"Hamilton and Munger’s Small Family, Happy Family is harrowing. Well-paced with an excellent utilization of stock footage to support main ideas, [the film] offers a well-conveyed explanation of the prejudice found within India’s Family Planning Program. Viewers will be compelled to advocate for women’s reproductive rights globally."
-Andrew Koval, MSLS

SELECTED SCREENINGS

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, 2019

Greenwich International Film Festival (CT), 2019

Women Deliver Film Festival, Vancouver, 2019

Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival (VT), 2019

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Small Family, Happy Family