In the rural Costa Rican village of Tres Equis, Doña Miriam Elizondo has delivered more than 2,000 babies. At 100 years old, she is the last living partera (traditional midwife) in the Turrialba Valley. A new generation of Costa Rican women is taking up the fight to improve maternal care and humanize childbirth,centering women’ s bodies and choice in a culture that has largely abandoned the practices. Will Doña Miriam’s tradition live on without her? Our lyrical film has dedicated years of observational storytelling to Doña Miriam, midwives, nurses, doulas and mothers as they counsel and care, bringing forth life. As Doña Miriam faces the end of her own life, a complex, powerful, and beautiful portrait through the cycles of of birth and death emerges.

Directors | Victoria Bouloubasis & Ned Phillips
Website | Thelastpartera.com
Facebook | Facebook.com/thelastpartera
Instagram | Instagram.com/thelastpartera
Twitter | Twitter.com/thelastpartera