Busy Being Born

Shorts, animation and archive clips of a natal nature, from Stan Brakhage to the Immaculate Conception.

Inspired by Emma Lazenby’s animated midwife’s tale Mother of Many, as well as the imminent departure of one of our co-directors for a career in delivering babies, we thought we’d show some films on the theme of pregnancy and birth. This selection covers pre-natal nerves (Signe Baumane’s Birth), the joy of twins (Samantha Moore’s Doubled Up), the immaculate conception (Steve Smith’s Eating for Two)  and the main event, captured elliptically by Stan Brakhage in his 1959 film Window Water Baby Moving. We’ll also have a snapshot of feline parenthood with live improvised accompaniment, and archive footage from Moseley’s Sorrento maternity hospital.