A new documentary by Savannah Bearden about the loss of abortion rights in Tennessee in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision will have its premiere in Memphis.
Bearden, who is director of communications for Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi, was there with her cameras as the organization wrestled how to respond after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg threw into doubt the precedent of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that established that the constitutional right to privacy invalidated state laws banning abortion.
What would become Standing Strong began as part of a virtual fundraiser, but as events overtook the organization, it evolved into a feature-length documentary of pain and protest. The film will make its world premiere tonight, July 26th, at Studio on the Square in Memphis. On August 1st, it will screen at Central Cinema in Knoxville, where the Planned Parenthood facility was burned to the ground in in January in an act of right-wing terrorism. It will screen at Nashville’s Belcourt Theater on August 4th. You can get tickets to the screenings at the film’s website, standing-strong.org.
Here’s the film’s trailer: