MADE IN INDIA played Monday at Winter Park Village at 8:30 PM and will screen again at Winter Park Village today (Friday, April 15) at 4:00 PM during the Florida Film Festival with the director in attendance. [details]
By Sultana F. Ali
Contributing writer
I’ve only passed through the Delhi airport on the way to another country, but my strange 15 hour layover was reminiscent of an Indie film, filmed in India. Watching Made in India was a bit like that. As the movie opened my boyfriend exclaimed, “this is about reproductive tourism?! I thought it was about industrial globalization!” Well, it’s just a different kind.
Globalization and the intersection of technology have affected our world in many ways, bringing people together across languages and cultural boundaries and creating vast options for goods
and services. In the case of Made in India, a clear problem is defined. A woman in the U.S. cannot carry her own biological children due to health challenges and cannot afford a surrogate in the United States (estimated cost $100K). She hears about surrogates in India at one-quarter of the price. Unwilling to let go of her lifelong dream of being a mother to her own biological children, she contacts Planet Hospital, a hub for medical tourism.
The movie takes you on the personal journey of the San Antonio, Texas couple, all the way to India and back. They imagine they wanted to make the movie partially to document their struggles and triumphs, but mostly, to provide information to other couples who have similar challenges. The questions are endless. What if the surrogate mother wants to keep the baby, is there recourse? I thought India would have a cultural resistance to an option like surrogacy? Are womens' rights being taken advantage of?
These are tough questions with no clear answers, but as the couple looks for answers, they defiantly defend their decisions and defy all the odds with one clear purpose in mind. And that spirit, is made in America.
You have one more chance to catch this intriguing film today and meet the filmmakers on the Filmmaker Forum panel at 1:30 PM at Winter Park Village prior to the screening.
By Sultana F. Ali
Contributing writer
I’ve only passed through the Delhi airport on the way to another country, but my strange 15 hour layover was reminiscent of an Indie film, filmed in India. Watching Made in India was a bit like that. As the movie opened my boyfriend exclaimed, “this is about reproductive tourism?! I thought it was about industrial globalization!” Well, it’s just a different kind.
Globalization and the intersection of technology have affected our world in many ways, bringing people together across languages and cultural boundaries and creating vast options for goods
and services. In the case of Made in India, a clear problem is defined. A woman in the U.S. cannot carry her own biological children due to health challenges and cannot afford a surrogate in the United States (estimated cost $100K). She hears about surrogates in India at one-quarter of the price. Unwilling to let go of her lifelong dream of being a mother to her own biological children, she contacts Planet Hospital, a hub for medical tourism.The movie takes you on the personal journey of the San Antonio, Texas couple, all the way to India and back. They imagine they wanted to make the movie partially to document their struggles and triumphs, but mostly, to provide information to other couples who have similar challenges. The questions are endless. What if the surrogate mother wants to keep the baby, is there recourse? I thought India would have a cultural resistance to an option like surrogacy? Are womens' rights being taken advantage of?
These are tough questions with no clear answers, but as the couple looks for answers, they defiantly defend their decisions and defy all the odds with one clear purpose in mind. And that spirit, is made in America.
You have one more chance to catch this intriguing film today and meet the filmmakers on the Filmmaker Forum panel at 1:30 PM at Winter Park Village prior to the screening.