Episode 156

Filmmakers possess the unique ability to immerse us in the lived experiences of others and in so doing, promote kindness, compassion and empathy.

Directors Tracy Droz Tragos and Charles Mudede join us to share their newest projects. Tracy’s film is called Plan C and it follows a network of courageous women who are working to ensure access to pregnancy terminating medications. Charles directed Thin Skin, a powerful and funny look into the life of musician/comedian Ahamefule Oluo who has never met but lives in the shadow of his Nigerian father.

Charles Mudede is a writer, cultural critic and filmmaker whose film is inspired by Oluo’s stage play which began as a segment on This American Life. It’s the story of a young, bi-racial man in search of himself while grappling with divorce, children, identity, purpose and the heartbreak of displeasing an absent father.

Tracy Droz Tragos is an accomplished and award winning documentarian whose film, Plan C documents the heroic work of the women who comprise a grassroots effort to safeguard access to the two-drug treatment known as a medial abortion. The drugs are prescribed legally through telemedicine visits, however access to information about their availability is muzzled. Tracy’s hope is that her film will raise awareness.

We also discuss the doctors on the frontline, the supportive husbands, the social media shutdowns and messaging workarounds:… a mobile billboard, subway ads and QR code stickers in college restrooms. We then get into legal intrigues like individual state policies, Shield Laws and the Supreme Court’s squeeze between two masters… the religious right and big pharma.

Plus, Fritz and Weezy are recommending Alexandra Pelosi’s The Insurrectionist Next Door on Max and Stephen Spielberg’s Life on Our Planet on Netflix.