TO KID OR NOT TO KID

From the award-winning director of the New York Times Critics' Pick Musicwood, TO KID OR NOT TO KID is a new film that aims to dispel the myth that living childfree is weird, selfish or somehow wrong. In a world where you're threatened for speaking openly about living childfree, two women, from different decades, search for ways to support each other in making the decision to live without kids. 

Filmmaker Maxine Trump turns the camera on herself and her close circle of family and friends as she confronts the idea of not having kids. While exploring the cultural pressures and harsh criticism childfree women regularly experience, as well as the personal impact this decision may have on her own relationship, Maxine meets other women reckoning with their choice: Megan, who struggles to get medical permission to undergo elective sterilization, and Victoria, who lives with the backlash of publicly acknowledging that she made a mistake when she had a child. 

TO KID OR NOT TO KID bravely plunges into an aspect of reproductive choice often misunderstood, mischaracterized, or considered too taboo to discuss. With rising public awareness about climate change, resource scarcity and global population, this timely film asks the question "Why can't we talk about not having children?"

2020  American Studies  Cinema Studies  Cultural Studies  Directed by Women  Women's Studies  Health 

“Deserves praise for exploring (a taboo) topic so openly” - Los Angeles Times

“Candid and empathetic” - The New York Times