ARREST THE MIDWIFE

OFFICIAL SELECTION - SXSW | THE CLIO VISUALIZING HISTORY PRIZE FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF WOMEN IN FILM - Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival | “Challenges assumptions, urging viewers to rethink who controls birth – and why.” - Jessi Cape, The Austin Chronicle Midwifery • Reproductive Rights • Childbirth • Medicine • Faith Date of Completion: 2025 | Run Time: 78 minutes | Language: English | Captions: Yes | Includes: Transcript | Director: Elaine Epstein | Producers: Elaine Epstein & Robin Hessman | Editor: Rachel Shuman | Cinematographer: Naiti Gámez | Original Score: Allyson Newman When trusted midwives are arrested in a tight-knit Amish and Mennonite enclave, a quiet community is thrust into turmoil. With their way of life under threat, women once expected to remain silent emerge as unexpected activists, standing up for reproductive rights and demanding justice. With rare and intimate access, director Elaine Epstein crafts a powerful David-and-Goliath story of resilience, resistance, and solidarity. Set against the backdrop of the U.S. maternal mortality crisis and the ongoing erosion of reproductive rights, ARREST THE MIDWIFE reveals how a local struggle can ignite a broader reckoning — uniting unlikely allies in a shared battle for the right to choose how, where, and with whom to give birth.