Dr. Carla Cerratao fights for women’s reproductive rights in Nicaragua in powerful documentary A QUIET INQUISITION
A QUIET INQUISITION (Alessandra Zeka & Holen Sabrina Kahn, 2014)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
Friday, June 20, 7:00
Festival runs through June 22 at the IFC Center and the Film Society of Lincoln Center
212-924-7771
www.quietinquisition.com
www.ff.hrw.org
Alessandra Zeka and Holen Sabrina Kahn delve into the very real and personal impact of Nicaragua’s total ban on abortion as seen through the eyes of a doctor forced to comply with the law in the eye-opening documentary A Quiet Inquisition. In Hospital Aleman Nicaraguense, Dr. Carla Cerrato must regularly deal with patients, many of whom are teenagers, whose pregnancies could severely harm or even kill them. But since 2006, when former president Daniel Ortega of the Sandinista National Liberation Front ran for reelection in Nicaragua, all kinds of abortions are illegal, including cases involving rape, incest, and the health of the mother and fetus. The film shows Dr. Cerrato counseling pregnant girls, attempting to come up with options that can save their lives through what are known as therapeutic abortions, but she is often thwarted by her colleagues. They refuse to carry out her orders even when the live birth of the baby is considered impossible and the death of the mother a certainty, fearing their own prosecution and imprisonment. “We are at a crossroads because of a law that impedes us from inducing a pregnancy or making a determination that can prevent further complications in the mother,” says Dr. Zamora, another OBGYN at the public hospital. He later adds, “I have fear too. My wife is pregnant. If any of these complications happen to her, as a doctor my hands would be tied. But as a person I would decide to act on it differently.” While Dr. Cerrato applauds the Sandinista revolution for helping her and other women become doctors in the first place, she now blames President Ortega and the FSLN for making deals with the Catholic Church, trading votes for the rights of women to control their own bodies. As the title of the film implies, Dr. Cerrato, a calm, good-natured woman with a realistic perspective on the situation, is fighting back in a quiet way; anything louder is liable to place her career in jeopardy.
Brave women share their harrowing stories in Human Rights Watch Film Festival world premiere
In fact, she’s probably taking a huge chance by appearing in the documentary at all. Presented with Cinema Tropical, A Quiet Inquisition is having its world premiere in the “Women’s Rights and Children’s Rights” section of the 2014 Human Rights Watch Film Festival, screening June 20 at 7:00 at the IFC Center and followed by a panel discussion with director, producer, and cinematographer Zeka, director, producer, and editor Kahn, and Dr. Cerrato. The twenty-second HRWFF runs through June 22 at Lincoln Center, the IFC Center, and the Times Center and comprises twenty-two films that explore such other themes as “LGBT Rights,” “Human Rights Defenders, Icons, and Villains,” “Armed Conflict and the Arab Spring,” and “Migrants’ Rights” through such works as Richie Mehta’s Siddarth, blair dorosh-walther’s Out in the Night, Edet Belzberg’s Watchers of the Sky, and Zeina Daccache’s Scheherazade’s Diary.