Among Us Women / Between traditional and modern midwifery

Among Us Women follows young farmer Huluager Endeshaw (25), who is awaiting the birth of her fourth child. Swimming in a river of change, Hulu finds herself caught between modern and traditional systems of midwifery in her rural village of Megendi. On one hand, she regularly attends check-ups at the local health post and follows the advice from medical midwives. On the other hand, Hulu is apprehensive of a system in which she feels unheard, turning to the traditional midwife Endal Gedif (70) for support and comfort. Although Endal is aware of Hulu’s needs, she can only do so much with her limited resources. Complications during Hulu’s home birth stress the conflicts between the ladies in scrubs and the women on fields. Surrounded by many varying female perspectives, Hulu wrestles with the role she is expected to play as a mother, a wife and a woman. To unravel her personal wants and needs, she takes the film’s narrative into her own hands, exploring her burning past and her uncertain future. Both because of her fellow women and despite them, Hulu holds on to the desire to define her own path and gradually unveils the secrets she has kept close to her chest.

EVENT After the screening, there will be a keynote by Nanna Maaløe, MD-PhD, from the University of Copenhagen on maternity care in low-income countries and low-resource settings. Following, we welcome you to the birth café, where you can continue the conversation enjoying a cup of Ethiopian coffee provided by Impact Roasters. The event will be in English.

Watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsunPDQkLOg

Daniel Abate Tilahun, Sarah Bozenhardt Noa
Original title: Unter uns Frauen
Ethiopia, Germany, Schweiz, 2021
93 min.
English subtitles
Allowed over 15 years