Unfortunately, partisan politics have come into play on our nation’s highest court, which is inconsistent with how the justice system should operate when it comes to reproductive freedom and justice.

The history of this country has shown us that the law is not always fair. It is up to us to fight for the next generation of women, and for everyone with a uterus, for their right to abortion as a means of health care, just as our mothers, aunts and grandmothers fought for us. “Red, White and Blue” is my contribution to this fight.

Know Your Worth: This is also your first foray as a director. What led to this decision, and what have you learned from your directorial debut, as well as working with stars like Brittany Snow and Juliet Donenfield?

Nazrin Choudhury: I had always planned to direct early in my career, but as someone who works a lot in television, I have always been able to maintain a strong authorial voice on my work. Cinema is truly a director’s medium and my lived experience and all the multiple layers and nuances needed to tell this story through every little detail as well as the performances meant I knew I had to be at the helm and in the chair. director. .

Brittany Snow and Juliet Donenfeld were amazing to work with. I don’t think we could have achieved this with the limited time and budget we had to make this happen without their immense talent, skill and professionalism.

What’s been so reaffirming about working with them, as well as some of my current closest collaborators – cinematographer Adam Suschitzky and editor/co-producer Phil McLaughlin – is the safe space they have created so that I could tell this story. And the reminder that as artists, we all seek to tell stories about what makes us human and why we got into the business of telling stories in the first place. I think audiences were also hungry for the kind of storytelling demonstrated in “Red, White and Blue.”

Know Your Worth: In just 23 minutes, the film takes an unexpected and heartbreaking turn. How did viewers react? Unexpected returns?

Nazrin Choudhury: The first two people to hear me tell the story verbally before I sat down to write the script were my two daughters, Iman and Alyssa, who also sing the song “Bloody Typique” that plays on the car radio during the scene. of the road trip.

As soon as I had the script, which I wrote pretty quickly, I sent it to the team I wanted to put together – all of whom received the same visceral punch from the words on the page that you could have. heard the others discuss.

The finished film has continued to have the same impact on everyone who watches it. It has been personally rewarding to see our audience understand the many layers and meanings during the 23 minutes we tell this story. We have always talked about this subject and this story transcends partisanship, even more politicization.

We received so many messages from people telling us that the film challenged their preconceptions and allowed them to approach an often thorny subject with humility and humanity. In some cases, it helped change people’s minds and spark their decision to join the fight to protect our bodily autonomy.

My own learning curve in watching this film came from realizing how many women view the fact that they have had an abortion as a guilty and shameful secret. We must absolve them of this guilt and shame, because it is not theirs to bear. In doing so, we must also address the widespread trauma that many of us still experience as a result of difficult or unwanted pregnancies.

Know Your Worth: How did you handle criticism of the film?

Nazrin Choudhury: Criticism and debate are part of a healthy democracy. This opens an avenue for dialogue and conversation that can be meaningful when we treat each other with respect, humanity and compassion.

This film was written to interrogate our own ideas, including those of us who think we are liberal and progressive, as well as those who have an incredibly rigid or extreme perspective.

I think that’s what’s been so disappointing about our political system and the landscape since the 2016 election. We stopped talking to each other.

I welcome any opportunity this film provides to engage in thoughtful and meaningful exchanges. We can and should all walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. I am particularly delighted that this film and its subject matter help bring the members of a family together after several years of polarization.

Know your value: Who are you talking to with this feature and what do you hope it will accomplish?

Nazrin Choudhury: This film deals with a subject that has been politicized.

And yet, I wrote this film for everyone in America: for the people who lived it but can’t tell the story themselves; for healthcare workers, doctors and nurses, as well as reproductive rights and justice organizations who are on the front lines of this battle to secure and protect our reproductive rights.

This is a thank you for your service as well as a reminder to millions of Americans, myself included, who may need to remember the words of President Abraham Lincoln: Our government is “of the people, by the people, for the people “. Our elected officials are there to serve us, not the other way around, and that is the truest definition of democracy that exists in my mind.