Human Shield - Clinic Escort Documentary
San Francisco, California | Film Feature
Documentary
Told through the perspective of three clinic escort groups, Human Shield explores the great personal risks taken in the battle for reproductive justice, shedding light on the vital role that escorts play in ensuring abortion access.
Human Shield - Clinic Escort Documentary
San Francisco, California | Film Feature
Documentary
1 Campaigns | California, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $32,229 for production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
238 supporters | followers
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Told through the perspective of three clinic escort groups, Human Shield explores the great personal risks taken in the battle for reproductive justice, shedding light on the vital role that escorts play in ensuring abortion access.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
In the journey from the car to the front door, abortion clinic patients are bombarded by screaming protestors who chase them, surround them, and plead with them to protect the life of their unborn fetus. If left alone, patients can be prevented, psychologically or physically, from reaching the clinic and exercising their right to choose. The only protective force standing between them and the graphic images, intimidation, and blaring bullhorns are clinic escorts: volunteers who use their own bodies to shield patients from the verbal, emotional, and sometimes physical abuse of protestors. With their colorful vests and rainbow umbrellas, escorts come together to ensure the safety of patients seeking basic healthcare.
HUMAN SHIELD weaves together the story of three clinic escort groups at clinics in North Carolina, Ohio, and the Maryland/Washington D.C. area.
Each of the volunteer coordinators remind their fellow clinic escorts that their mission is simple: get the patient to the clinic safely without engagement or confrontation. But HUMAN SHIELD will show that achieving that goal is rarely straightforward.
Being a clinic escort requires intense focus and restraint. Escorts must remain both stoic and alert, absorbing the commotion while refraining from interaction with the protestors around them. This means standing for hours in front of loud sidewalk preachers through torrential rainstorms, snowstorms and suffocating heat. On good days, patients slip the escorts short but heartfelt notes thanking them for being there to help. On bad days, clinic escorts will need to decompress with a long shower, a good cry or a stiff drink until the emotional drain of the day fades away. Although the length of their daily journeys to and from the clinic doors are short, their encounters with both patients and protestors has an impact on every aspect of their lives.
HUMAN SHIELD is about more than just the role of the clinic escort. It’s a closer look at how we as a society view harassment and bullying.
It asks the audience, “what would you do, if you saw a stranger being ridiculed, targeted and harassed for a medical decision? Would you step in and put your body, and potentially your life, on the line?” This film seeks to open up a new discussion around abortion and reproductive rights and bring in the concepts of compassion, privacy and dignity.
After Roe v. Wade was overturned this past June, the entire abortion landscape shifted with clinic escorts groups witnessing the effects of new abortion bans, an increase in desperate patients and a new wave of emboldened protesters.
With these changes, there is a renewed sense of urgency to capture each important moment and weave it into the larger story of clinic escorts.
Filmmaking is expensive. We are launching this crowdfunding campaign to raise money for Production and continue filming with all three clinic escort groups.
We plan to use these funds for:
- Travel expenses for crew (airfare, lodging, car rentals, food)
- Hiring our locally skilled teams of Cinematographers and Production Assistants in Raleigh, North Carolina, Toledo, Ohio and Hagerstown, Maryland.
- Transcription of our in-depth interviews
- Large capacity hard drives for storage and back-up of footage
There is so much at stake right now for reproductive justice and HUMAN SHIELD wants to be there - at each clinic - capturing this important moment as it unfolds, adding more depth to this complex look at abortion access.
Our team consists of people who either work in the film & television industry or simply have a passion for storytelling that has a positive social impact. Many of the crew members are members of the local community and have worked with the film since its inception in 2018.
By joining this campaign, you will be joining the HUMAN SHIELD team and helping to bring this important story to a larger audience.
The team has been working tirelessly since 2018 to meet these clinic escort groups and gain the trust of these compassionate volunteers. With your help, we can continue with this important story and you can feel good that your contribution is going to support an essential documentary that can help inform, provoke and open new discussions on abortion access.
Here are four ways you can help HUMAN SHIELD:
- Contribute to our campaign and get some fun perks! Any amount, big or small, is greatly appreciated. Check out the side bar for a list of incentives.
- Follow us on social media and share our campaign! Follow our film on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to help get the word out.
- Create a FREE Seed & Spark account and follow our page to help us qualify for free filmmaking resources from companies like Final Draft and Film Fund Grant.
- Give physical assets to the production! Are you a fast typist and love transcribing? Do you have extra airline miles or a vacant Airbnb that you could share? Or maybe you have expert design skills that you can lend? Connect with us and lets chat about in-kind contributions!
Feel free to copy and paste either these to help you share:
Support the filmmakers behind @HumanShieldFilm, a unique documentary about the role of clinic escorts at abortion clinics, by helping them keep the cameras rolling! Join them on @Seed&Spark: https://bit.ly/3D47lIv
Show your support for abortion access and reproductive justice and help the creators of @HumanShieldFilm, a unique documentary about clinic escorts at abortion clinics. Support the film on @Seed&Spark: https://bit.ly/3D47lIv
And here's the link to this page: https://bit.ly/3D47lIv
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Crew
Costs $14,000
You can't make a movie without a crew! We need people in both the camera and producing departments.
Equipment Rentals
Costs $5,000
Cameras are also important in making a movie. We need to rent lights and sound equipment as well.
Travel
Costs $6,000
We're telling our stories in three different states we plan to be at for weeks at a time.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
In the journey from the car to the front door, abortion clinic patients are bombarded by screaming protestors who chase them, surround them, and plead with them to protect the life of their unborn fetus. If left alone, patients can be prevented, psychologically or physically, from reaching the clinic and exercising their right to choose. The only protective force standing between them and the graphic images, intimidation, and blaring bullhorns are clinic escorts: volunteers who use their own bodies to shield patients from the verbal, emotional, and sometimes physical abuse of protestors. With their colorful vests and rainbow umbrellas, escorts come together to ensure the safety of patients seeking basic healthcare.
HUMAN SHIELD weaves together the story of three clinic escort groups at clinics in North Carolina, Ohio, and the Maryland/Washington D.C. area.
Each of the volunteer coordinators remind their fellow clinic escorts that their mission is simple: get the patient to the clinic safely without engagement or confrontation. But HUMAN SHIELD will show that achieving that goal is rarely straightforward.
Being a clinic escort requires intense focus and restraint. Escorts must remain both stoic and alert, absorbing the commotion while refraining from interaction with the protestors around them. This means standing for hours in front of loud sidewalk preachers through torrential rainstorms, snowstorms and suffocating heat. On good days, patients slip the escorts short but heartfelt notes thanking them for being there to help. On bad days, clinic escorts will need to decompress with a long shower, a good cry or a stiff drink until the emotional drain of the day fades away. Although the length of their daily journeys to and from the clinic doors are short, their encounters with both patients and protestors has an impact on every aspect of their lives.
HUMAN SHIELD is about more than just the role of the clinic escort. It’s a closer look at how we as a society view harassment and bullying.
It asks the audience, “what would you do, if you saw a stranger being ridiculed, targeted and harassed for a medical decision? Would you step in and put your body, and potentially your life, on the line?” This film seeks to open up a new discussion around abortion and reproductive rights and bring in the concepts of compassion, privacy and dignity.
After Roe v. Wade was overturned this past June, the entire abortion landscape shifted with clinic escorts groups witnessing the effects of new abortion bans, an increase in desperate patients and a new wave of emboldened protesters.
With these changes, there is a renewed sense of urgency to capture each important moment and weave it into the larger story of clinic escorts.
Filmmaking is expensive. We are launching this crowdfunding campaign to raise money for Production and continue filming with all three clinic escort groups.
We plan to use these funds for:
- Travel expenses for crew (airfare, lodging, car rentals, food)
- Hiring our locally skilled teams of Cinematographers and Production Assistants in Raleigh, North Carolina, Toledo, Ohio and Hagerstown, Maryland.
- Transcription of our in-depth interviews
- Large capacity hard drives for storage and back-up of footage
There is so much at stake right now for reproductive justice and HUMAN SHIELD wants to be there - at each clinic - capturing this important moment as it unfolds, adding more depth to this complex look at abortion access.
Our team consists of people who either work in the film & television industry or simply have a passion for storytelling that has a positive social impact. Many of the crew members are members of the local community and have worked with the film since its inception in 2018.
By joining this campaign, you will be joining the HUMAN SHIELD team and helping to bring this important story to a larger audience.
The team has been working tirelessly since 2018 to meet these clinic escort groups and gain the trust of these compassionate volunteers. With your help, we can continue with this important story and you can feel good that your contribution is going to support an essential documentary that can help inform, provoke and open new discussions on abortion access.
Here are four ways you can help HUMAN SHIELD:
- Contribute to our campaign and get some fun perks! Any amount, big or small, is greatly appreciated. Check out the side bar for a list of incentives.
- Follow us on social media and share our campaign! Follow our film on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to help get the word out.
- Create a FREE Seed & Spark account and follow our page to help us qualify for free filmmaking resources from companies like Final Draft and Film Fund Grant.
- Give physical assets to the production! Are you a fast typist and love transcribing? Do you have extra airline miles or a vacant Airbnb that you could share? Or maybe you have expert design skills that you can lend? Connect with us and lets chat about in-kind contributions!
Feel free to copy and paste either these to help you share:
Support the filmmakers behind @HumanShieldFilm, a unique documentary about the role of clinic escorts at abortion clinics, by helping them keep the cameras rolling! Join them on @Seed&Spark: https://bit.ly/3D47lIv
Show your support for abortion access and reproductive justice and help the creators of @HumanShieldFilm, a unique documentary about clinic escorts at abortion clinics. Support the film on @Seed&Spark: https://bit.ly/3D47lIv
And here's the link to this page: https://bit.ly/3D47lIv
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Crew
Costs $14,000
You can't make a movie without a crew! We need people in both the camera and producing departments.
Equipment Rentals
Costs $5,000
Cameras are also important in making a movie. We need to rent lights and sound equipment as well.
Travel
Costs $6,000
We're telling our stories in three different states we plan to be at for weeks at a time.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team