''Vessel'' is a 2014 multi-national

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

written and directed by Diana Whitten as her debut film, focusing on the work of

Women on Waves Women on Waves (WoW) is a Dutch nongovernmental organization (NGO) created in 1999 by Dutch physician Rebecca Gomperts, in order to bring reproductive health services, particularly non-surgical abortion services and education, to women in countr ...

, a Dutch

pro-choice Abortion-rights movements, also referred to as pro-choice movements, advocate for the right to have legal access to induced abortion services including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their pr ...

organization founded by the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

physician

Rebecca Gomperts Rebecca Gomperts (born 1966) is a Dutch physician and activist for women's rights, in particular abortion rights. She is the founder of Women on Waves and Women on Web, which provide reproductive health services for women in countries where thes ...

in 1999. The film's world premiere took place at SXSW in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

on March 9, 2014. The film has been distributed by Filmbuff since 2015.

Synopsis

The film focuses on Dr.

' work with her organization 'Women on Waves', as she sails a ship around the world and provides abortions at sea for women who have no legal alternative. Gomperts meets opposition, but when each is overcome, she refines her mission and eventually realizes she can use new technologies to bypass existing laws. She trains women to give themselves abortions using WHO-researched protocols with pills, and creates an underground network of empowered activists who trust women to handle abortion themselves.

Cast

The film features

, Susan Davies, Veronica Vera, Kinga Jelinska, Cecilia Costa, Gunilla Kleiverda, Myra ter Meulen, Margreet Parlevliet, Juul Brockling, Lizet Kraal, Margie Moore, Ivette Mrova, Annemarie van den Heuvel, Ana Cristina Santos, Sara larrea, Ana Cristina Vera, Paula Castello Starkoff, Manuela Luna Creciente, and Nondo Ebuela Ejano, with voice-over by Kinga Jelinska and Inês Rodrigues.

Production

The film took seven years to make.

Recognition

Reception

''Vessel'' was given a mixed review by ''

Indiewire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...

'' critic Eric Kohn, who wrote that "the hot button topic bortionbegs for a more dynamic treatment."

Awards and nominations

At the 2014 South by Southwest Film Festival the film was nominated for the 'SXSW Grand Jury Award' and won both the 'Audience Award' and 'Special Jury Awards' for Documentary Feature. At the 2014

Sheffield International Documentary Festival Sheffield DocFest (formerly styled Sheffield Doc/Fest), short for Sheffield International Documentary Festival (SIDF), is an international documentary festival and Marketplace held annually in Sheffield, England. The Festival includes film sc ...

, the film won the

Peter Wintonick Peter Kenneth Wintonick (June 10, 1953 – November 18, 2013) was a Canadian independent documentary filmmaker based in Montreal. A winner of the 2006 Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts, former Thinker in Residence for the Premier ...

Award. At the

Nantucket Film Festival The Nantucket Film Festival is a film festival founded in 1996 which focuses on screenwriting. Board members include Donick Cary, Nancy Dubac, Chris Matthews, Kathleen Matthews, Ben Stiller, and Tom Scott. History The Nantucket Film Festival ...

, the film won the

Adrienne Shelly Adrienne Levine (June 24, 1966 – November 1, 2006), better known by the stage name Adrienne Shelly (sometimes credited as Adrienne Shelley), was an American actress, film director and screenwriter. She became known for roles in independen ...

Excellence In Filmmaking Award.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://vesselthefilm.com/
''Vessel''
at the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

2014 documentary films 2014 films American documentary films Documentary films about abortion 2010s English-language films 2010s American films