SF ShortsLucy’s Choice Screened Oct. 23-25
“This documentary is a privilege to embed within the daily life and customs of an elderly mother protecting her daughters from sharing her own fate.” – F3 Film Magazine
Lucy’s Choice USA, Kenya Documentary
A mother of ten in Maasailand recalls her own circumcision and her decision to act against her husband to protect her daughter from a similar fate.
A mother of ten in Maasailand recalls her own circumcision and her decision to act against her husband to protect her daughter from a similar fate.
DIRECTOR PROFILE
Paige Engelhardt Smith
Director Bio : Paige Engelhardt Smith is a documentary filmmaker, director, producer, and photographer based in Northern California. She dives into her commitment to female empowerment and her enduring love affair with East Africa in her debut film, "Lucy's Choice."
Directors Statement : Media coverage of female circumcision, a designated human rights abuse by the World Health Organization, has been called, "hyperbolic and one-sided" by non-partisan research organizations. While the subject is often approached from an activist perspective, little attention has been given to the women actually participating in the tradition. My goal for "Lucy's Choice" was to shine a light on the stories of women who experience the cutting, and in particular, mothers who must perpetuate this initiation into womanhood via their daughters. "Lucy's Choice" follows the story of one mother who must act against her husband's wishes to protect her daughter from a fate similar to her own. It's a story of a mother's love and her will for change set in rural Maasailand of South Western Kenya.
Director Bio : Paige Engelhardt Smith is a documentary filmmaker, director, producer, and photographer based in Northern California. She dives into her commitment to female empowerment and her enduring love affair with East Africa in her debut film, "Lucy's Choice."
Directors Statement : Media coverage of female circumcision, a designated human rights abuse by the World Health Organization, has been called, "hyperbolic and one-sided" by non-partisan research organizations. While the subject is often approached from an activist perspective, little attention has been given to the women actually participating in the tradition. My goal for "Lucy's Choice" was to shine a light on the stories of women who experience the cutting, and in particular, mothers who must perpetuate this initiation into womanhood via their daughters. "Lucy's Choice" follows the story of one mother who must act against her husband's wishes to protect her daughter from a fate similar to her own. It's a story of a mother's love and her will for change set in rural Maasailand of South Western Kenya.