Mailing List
Filmmaker’s Statement
Rebecca Haimowitz & Vaishali Sinha are documentary filmmakers committed to creating work that shows the human stories behind this complex, sometimes controversial subject matter. As an American and an Indian working together, we bring different perspectives to the film, a dynamic that has us both asking harder questions, digging into deeper emotional responses.
As women deeply interested in issues of reproductive rights, social justice and global issues, the subject of “outsourcing” surrogacy to India captivated us from the moment we first read about the practice.
We aim to create a film that goes beyond sensationalist headlines and uncovers the personal lives and choices of the surrogates and the infertile Americans involved.
The Filmmakers
Rebecca Haimowitz
Co-Director, Producer
Rebecca Haimowitz received her MFA in Filmmaking from Columbia University’s Graduate School of the Arts, where she was awarded Faculty Honors and also worked as a Screenwriting Instructor. Her short film, Follow Me, screened at several international film festivals (including SXSW and Woodstock International Film Festival). Rebecca has Directed several documentary films, including a piece about a summer camp for autistic children, a youth-produced series on over-policing in NYC schools (funded by the NYCLU), and a work-in-progress called Soundproof, a personal film about deafness in her family (recently featured on NPR’s “Weekend Edition” website). Rebecca is committed to creating films that reveal the human side behind social and political issues. She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
Vaishali Sinha
Co-Director, Producer
Vaishali Sinha co-directed the short documentary, Red Roses, exploring the lives of South Asian women who come to the United States via marriage & family obligations, which gathered many critical reviews and traveled to numerous festivals. She is also co-directing the film Kashmir- personal narratives of four university students of Kashmir, at the brink of graduation in an extremely contentious and politically troubled State of India, where human rights are questioned on a daily basis. In the past she has worked as editing associate for NY based documentary filmmakers. She has also worked for non-profit organizations in India promoting women’s voices, and has studied film, sexuality and human rights at the New School University, NYU and an Institute by CREA (Creating Resources and Empowerment for Action) . Vaishali uses filmmaking as a platform to explore and discuss socially sensitive issues. She is from Mumbai, India and currently resides in Brooklyn, NY.
The Fledgling Fund
Co-Executive Producer
The Fledgling Fund seeks to improve the lives of vulnerable individuals, families, and communities by supporting innovative media projects that target entrenched social problems.
Chicken & Egg Pictures
Co-Executive Producer
Chicken & Egg Pictures is a hybrid film fund and non-profit production company dedicated to supporting women filmmakers who are as passionate about the craft of storytelling as they are about the social justice, environmental and human rights issues they’re embracing, translating and exploring on film.
Erin Heidenreich
Executive Producer
Erin Heidenreich has represented over 300 independent feature films and documentaries in several capacities over the past 10 years. As one of the founders of Cinetic Media in 2001, she helped grow the company into the largest independent sales company focusing on domestic distribution deals in North America.
Some of the films she has represented in her role at Cinetic include “Super Size Me”, ” “Fog of War”, “Capturing the Friedmans”, “Jesus Camp”, “Water”, “Bowling for Columbine” “Murderball” “The Yes Men”, “Wordplay”, “Chicago 10” and many others.
Myles Kane
Editor
Myles Kane lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, as a filmmaker and freelance video editor. He co-founded the Brooklyn Underground Film Festival in 2002 and served as the Festival Relations Director for five years. For the past six years, he’s worked as an editor for BBC News and various television programmes. In 2007 he served as editor on the documentary We Are Wizards. He is currently working on his second feature film.
Amritha Vaz
Music Composer
Trained from a young age in western classical piano and violin, Amritha’s broad interests eventually drew her to Bangalore, India, where she studied carnatic violin from ages 18-20. Exploring and studying these diverse musical styles, she has developed a worldly and unique voice. Recently relocated to Los Angeles, she has been privileged to work under the guidance of Mychael Danna most recently gaining experience with him on Robert Schwentke’s Time Traveler’s Wife and Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. She has lent her talents to film music in her own right, having worked on a number of feature films including Deepa Mehta’s Heaven on Earth, Najwa Najjar’s Pomegranates & Myrrh, Dilip Mehta’s Cooking with Stella, & Marc Webb’s 500 Days of Summer.