BUSINESS DOC EUROPE: Awards FYC - Zurawski v Texas by Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault

By Geoffrey Macnab

Journalists and filmmakers Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault first collaborated in 2016 when Crow made her feature documentary, Jackson, telling the story of the last abortion clinic in Mississippi. 

“She [Crow] was looking for someone to help her with educational distribution and putting together impact screenings across the country and so she hired me,” Perrault remembers.

At the time, both women were living in Marfa, a desert city in west Texas, close to the Mexican border. Perrault got a job working in community journalism, at The Big Bend Sentinel newspaper where Crow had taken the helm.

Now, the duo, who run the company Out of Nowhere together, have collaborated on the hard-hitting, emotionally-wrenching new feature documentary Zurawski v Texas, telling the story of women fighting against Texas’s cruel and often very dangerous abortion laws. (The film recently won two prizes at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival and is in contention for further awards).

Perrault sees a clear link between her and Crow’s community journalism and their documentary-making. In both cases, the storytellers need to establish strong and trusting relationships with their subjects. 

“You can’t just burn sources. You have to hold yourself to a really high standard because you are accountable to your community. It is about relationship building,” she says of the bonds the directors formed with the women featured in the movie. These included Amanda Zurawski, who ended up suing the state of Texas because she was denied an abortion and almost died as a result.

Alongside Zurawski, another of the film’s main protagonists is the dogged Molly Duane, the lawyer for the Centre for Reproductive Rights leading the case on behalf of the women denied abortion care.

“We were following the beats of a court case and so, through that, there is some predictability. In terms of their personal lives, it is very unpredictable,” Perrault reflects on the structure of the film. 

The participants would call them whenever something significant was about to happen. Perrault likens them to ‘mini field producers.’ “They would call and say I think this is important, you should be here. We just kept in close touch with them about developments in their lives throughout that year we were filming. We were very fortunate they were so willing to tell their stories and to be vulnerable because they were dealing with a lot of trauma and fallout from being denied basic healthcare.”

As the filmmakers make clear, the Texas legislators are trying to shunt responsibility for the health of women like Zurawski onto the doctors. However, these doctors face life in prison, loss of license or huge fines if they perform abortions later deemed to have been illegal.

“Doctors’ hands are tied,” Perrault says. “It’s a dangerous world to put doctors and women in…tragically, at least three women have died in Texas because they have been denied abortions.” 

She acknowledges, though, that the overturning of Roe vs Wade by the Supreme Court in 2022, ending the right to abortion, wasn’t such a surprise.

“Unfortunately, those of us who have been tuned into reproductive rights issues, have seen this coming and long predicted that something like this would happen,” she notes.

Nonetheless, the ruling was still deeply dismaying. The day that Roe was overturned, Crow had been in the clinic featured in Jackson, working on a story for the NPR radio show This American Life. Perrault was at home in Chicago.

“At that point, Maisie and I decided we would make a film. We didn’t know what that was going to be yet but we just knew there was going to be so much change and stories coming out of that moment.”

“As a woman of reproductive age, seeing your rights be stripped away, it brought me to tears that day,” Perrault continues. “I flew to Mississippi and from there we began speaking 

to women who were being denied care. We met Texans who were already travelling out of state to Mississippi because that clinic [in Jackson] was able to remain open for 10 days after Roe fell. We met women from all over the country, travelling, panicking, seeking emergency care.”

Through the Centre for Reproductive Rights, the directors “connected” with the Texan women who feature in the new documentary: Amanda Zurawski, Dr Austin Dennard, Samantha Casiano and Kate Cox.

The film has some illustrious backers and executive producers among them Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and movie star Jennifer Lawrence. 

“Even before the day that Roe fell, Maisie and I had been researching, knowing that this was coming because the draft opinion leaked. We were looking for stories to tell. Through that, we were introduced to two other production companies,” Perrault explains how the connection was made with Story Force, based in California, and HiddenLight Productions, co-founded by Hillary and Chelsea Clinton. 

These two companies helped raise the budget. “They were incredible at finding not only foundations but grants – and even grants from individuals who were passionate about the issue and believed in telling stories in this critical moment in reproductive health in America…Secretary Clinton and Chelsea really allowed us creatively to make the film we wanted to make. However, they have been so incredibly supportive and present in the promotion of this film.”

The redoubtable lawyer Molly Duane anchors the documentary. Where there is a setback, she soldiers on.

“One thing you have to know is that being a reproductive rights attorney is not for the faint of heart,” Perrault notes of her. “And it was not Molly’s first rodeo. There are often uphill battles, fighting for women’s rights. Molly has been knocked down a number of times and it is remarkable that she continues to get up. That is what I am most drawn to in Molly, that she is unflappable.”

The setbacks “do still sting” but Duane cares too much about her clients to be put off for long. “She is genuinely interested in their well-being.”

Since its premiere at Telluride, the documentary, sold by Together Films, has shown at several festivals. The filmmakers are aiming to sort out conventional distribution through a broadcaster or streamer but have already organised many impact screenings in US states that have been debating their own abortion laws. 

“We are looking at bringing this film into state legislative sessions, to Washington. We’d like to make this film available for people who are making laws about women’s access to basic healthcare because we want to make sure they understand what abortion denial looks like.”

Perrault adds that she and Crow are yet “to meet a single person that has seen these stories…and said nothing is amiss here.”

“It is very clear that something is not right in Texas. I think people are motivated after seeing the film to understand what is going on in their state and to look for ways that women can access the care they need.”

The story told here also has a resonance beyond Texan and US borders. For example, Perrault points out that right wing English politician Nigel Farage has been calling for debate on stricter abortion laws in the UK.

With Donald Trump due soon to return to the White House, further encroachments on women’s rights might now be expected. “I don’t have a crystal ball but there are many mechanisms that could be used to continue to roll back abortion access in America,” the filmmaker warns. “There are states like New York and California where abortion has been partly protected but a federal ban could change all of that.”

“Take your rights for granted at your peril because they can be taken away!”