A Walk to Beautiful
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Mary Olive Smith
Jessica Beck
Jessica Beck
Amy Bucher
Steven Engel
Steven Engel
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Five Ethiopian women, Ayehu, Almaz, Zewdie, Yenenesh and Wubete, suffered through prolonged, unrelieved obstructed labor in a country with few hospitals and even fewer roads to get to them. Although they survived the often-fatal childbirth experience, they were left with a stillborn baby and feeling, as Ayehu tells us, that "even death would be better than this." The obstructed labor has left each of them incontinent. In most of their cases, this is as a result of an obstetric fistula, a hole in the birth canal. We discover Ayehu, 25, living in a makeshift shack behind her mother's house where she's hidden for four years, shunned by siblings and neighbors alike because of her smell. She hesitantly begins her journey on foot, and once she gets to the Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa, she realizes for the first time that she isn't the only person in the world suffering from this problem. At the hospital we meet Almaz, a woman also in her 20s who was abducted by her now-husband in a village market and has suffered from double fistula for three years. Zewdie, 38, has five children longing for their mother to be well. Though abandoned by her husband, Zewdie is supported by the strong extended family that surrounds her. As for Wubete and Yenenesh, both 17, early marriage and their small physical stature (the result of undernourishment and heavy labor) determined the tragic outcome of their first pregnancies. For these two girls a cure is not simple. They struggle with disappointing news, but later their youthful determination triumphs. Each of these women journey to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital where they find solace for the first time in years and their lives begin to change.
Crew
Jessica Beck
Jessica Beck
Amy Bucher
Steven Engel
Steven Engel
Andrew Ford
Tony Hardmon
Aysin Karaduman
Aysin Karaduman
Susan Lee
Dionne Mcculloch
Jerry Risius
Dave Schommer
Allison Shigo
Mary Olive Smith
Mary Olive Smith
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Miscellaneous Notes
Winner of the 2007 award for Best Feature Documentary by the International Documentary Association (IDA).
Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2007 San Francisco International Film Festival.
Released in United States 2007
Released in United States 2008
Released in United States February 29, 2008
Released in United States June 2007
Released in United States on Video August 12, 2008
Released in United States Winter February 8, 2008
Shown at San Francisco International Film Festival (Documentaries) April 26-May 10, 2007.
Shown at Santa Barbara International Film Festival (Real-Markable Stories) January 24-February 3, 2008.
Shown at SILVERDOCS: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival (World View) June 12-17, 2007.
Released in United States 2007 (Shown at San Francisco International Film Festival (Documentaries) April 26-May 10, 2007.)
Released in United States 2008 (Shown at Santa Barbara International Film Festival (Real-Markable Stories) January 24-February 3, 2008.)
Released in United States Winter February 8, 2008
Released in United States February 29, 2008 (Los Angeles)
Released in United States June 2007 (Shown at SILVERDOCS: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival (World View) June 12-17, 2007.)
Released in United States on Video August 12, 2008
