(exciting music) - Welcome to "TV Film."

I'm Jermaine Wells.

"TV Film" showcases the talents of upstate New York media makers across all genres.

And in this episode, we'll see two films about relationships and families.

What would happen if Roe versus Wade were to be struck down by the Supreme Court?

Director Rebecca Van der Meulen explores this possibility in the film "To Wade or Row."

- I was inspired to make this film because of the current climate around reproductive rights and abortion access in America.

And I wrote it back in 2019, and so things were not as dire as they are right now, but there's always been those protests on both sides, there's always been rumblings of some time people want it to be overturned soon.

And I really wanted to make a piece of art that showed my feelings towards what would happen if things do change for the worse.

So I was actually in an airport coming home from a film festival when the Supreme Court decision was leaked and I was sitting there and I started getting these texts and everybody was like, oh, my god, oh, my god your film, it's coming true.

Even though it's not legal, people are still going to find a way and there's still going to be a community of support for people that need abortion access.

The word is never even said in the film and she never gives a reason for why she's getting it, everything it's personal and it's something that the audience doesn't get to know, but it's something the audience can think about in their own way and they could see themselves in her position, or see a friend or family member.

(birds chirp) (soft rock music) (static crackles) (music stops) (soft ambient music) (TV chatters) - Can we get a reservation for five PM?

- Okay.

You're a little late, but let's see what I can do.

Is this for five or 5:15?

- I don't know, five, I think.

- And your name is?

- Henry Gordon.

- Room six.

- Room six.

Let's go.

- If there's anything you need, you just feel free to ask.

We're always here to help.

(bell rings) Good morning.

How can I help you?

- Um, my friend stayed here a while back.

She suggested I come here.

- Great.

We rely on the visitors to let people know that we're here.

- Yeah, she said you guys had exactly what she was looking for.

Um, she also mentioned that there's a lovely lake nearby.

Would you recommend any activities?

- Well, we do have a quaint beach down the road.

But we also have boats for rent.

Would you like to wade or row?

- Row, please.

- Okay.

Why don't we chat in the back?

I'd be happy to tell you about all the things we have to offer here.

When did you know?

- Um, I got worried last month.

I checked to be sure a couple of weeks back.

- Does he know?

Well, it's not exactly his decision, now is it?

I'm so glad you found us.

So many people need us and they don't know where we are.

- Well, you can't exactly go print it out on pamphlets.

- No, we cannot.

Hell, you couldn't even advertise it when it was legal.

- I remember seeing the protesters when I was little.

- Whenever you're ready, you just let us know.

I'll be with you every step of the way.

This is Dr. Blackman.

She's gonna take care of you today.

- So you can go ahead and step behind the curtain to change and then we'll run some quick tests.

(soft piano music) (phone buzzes) (computer beeps) - Benham's back.

(tense music) Oh!

Officer Benham.

I'm sorry.

I didn't realize you were here.

- Norma, I was just looking for you.

Seemed like you were busy, so I thought I'd come on back by myself.

- Oh, well, here I am.

How can I help you, John?

- Yeah, a couple of my guys called in some hitchhikers up by Holly Ridge.

Two young girls traveling alone.

Didn't like the looks of it, giving off the wrong impressions.

(radio chatter) Yeah.

I got a funny feeling about this.

Be a dear and give me a call if they drop by.

- We'll keep an eye out.

- See you Sunday?

(bell rings) (car starts) (siren wails) - So you're gonna see some spotting on and off for the next few days, just keep an eye on it in case the bleeding gets worse.

- I want you to take it easy, okay?

Just try and get some rest.

(bell rings) Good morning.

- [Henry] There you are.

I woke up this morning and my girlfriend wasn't in the room.

I don't know where she is.

- I'm sorry, I haven't seen her.

- You haven't seen her, the guy outside cleaning said he hadn't seen her, is there anyone else who might have...?

- It's only Jack and I here right now, so I'm sorry.

- Well, I don't know where she could be, it's not like her to just leave without telling me.

She left her phone, I checked outside, I checked out back.

Is there anywhere else she could be nearby?

- [Norma] Well, she could have gone to the lake, or maybe she went for a hike.

Is the car still here?

Maybe she went downtown.

- [Henry] The car's still here.

It's like she just disappeared.

I don't know where she is.

- [Norma] Well, I promise, if I see her, I'll let her know you're looking for her.

- [Henry] Okay, thanks.

- Henry.

- Where the hell...?

- What are you doing up?

I thought you'd be sleeping in?

- What?

Where were you?

- I was just out for a walk.

- What?

- I couldn't sleep and they said there was a lovely lake nearby.

- Do you have any idea how long I've...?

Jesus, Jane, what were you thinking?

- Oh, I was so afraid I'd dropped it, I had no idea I'd left it in the room.

- Do you have any idea what time it is?

- Henry, I'm sorry.

I just, I couldn't fall asleep, and I needed some fresh air, so I... Why don't you go get the bags and I'll meet you at the car, okay?

Can you just please give me some time alone?

- Hey.

We were just wondering if... - We just wanna make sure we're in the right place.

This is the Lakeside Inn, right?

- Yes.

Yes, it is.

- Thanks.

- You know, did you have any plans while you were staying here?

- Yeah.

We heard there's a lake nearby.

We were hoping to check it out.

- Did you want to wade, or row?

(soft ambient music) - In the next film, Miriam Elasser weaves the tale of her mother with images in "The Memory Rug."

- The film documents the process of me weaving this rug as well as kind of the process of, like, me connecting with her mother and her life in Morocco.

And so, the rug itself is a woven tapestry of one piece of duck cloth that is, like, a collage of pictures of my mother when she was a child, and then another piece that is handpainted designs from the Amazigh Azilal region of Morocco which is where my father is from.

The act of doing it by my own hand made me appreciate the process a lot more and it really, like, in a way, was a huge metaphor for me as somebody, you know, growing up in America as a first-generation immigrant, weaving together these two different things and my parents' own experiences, weaving their life here, and then weaving together their life, you know, this previous life of theirs that I have no immediate access to in Morocco.

You never think to provide people that you live with that kind of context because you've lived with them your whole life, but to allow them a little peek into who you were before or who you were when they didn't know you is really, I think it's crucial and vital to understanding each other as family and also people are only alive for so long, so you know, get their stories while you can and remember them because it's important.

(phone rings) - [Mother] Hello, salam alaikum.

- [Miriam] Salam alaikum.

- [Mother] How are you?

- [Miriam] What?

- [Mother] How are you doing?

- [Miriam] I'm well.

I'm fine, I'm fine.

- [Mother] How was your trip?

- [Miriam] It was fine.

Like I said, the subway took a really long time to get there.

I was waiting for a while.

- [Mother] Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.

- [Miriam] It snowed here earlier today.

- [Mother] Oh.

- [Miriam] For a little bit, it didn't stick to the ground.

- [Mother] Oh, just flurries?

- [Miriam] Yeah.

- [Mother] How cold is it?

- [Miriam] I don't know, I haven't checked.

It's kinda cold, it's not too cold.

- [Mother] Oh, okay.

- [Miriam] Okay, let's talk about the pictures.

- [Mother] Okay.

- [Miriam] Do you have them with you?

- [Mother] Yeah, the one you left on top of the box?

- [Miriam] Yeah, which one is first?

- [Mother] Oh, yeah, my wedding picture, Miriam, of course.

(mother laughs) - [Miriam] Of course, of course.

- [Mother] 30 years.

- [Miriam] 1991?

- [Mother] Yep, December 28th.

Wow.

30 years soon.

So pretty.

Yeah, it's beautiful.

- [Miriam] What's the next one?

- [Mother] The next one... Oh, the next one is the one in Cape Bedouza, in the Cape Bedouza.

Me and my, what's their name?

She's like a godmother for us and these are her two daughters.

(speaks Arabic) - [Miriam] How old were you?

- [Mother] Oh, I can't remember how old.

I don't know, maybe 15 or 16.

- [Miriam] What were you doing?

You can't swim.

Why did you go there?

Were you swimming?

- [Mother] Oh, no, no.

No, we don't swim in the ocean, but we just swim in these (speaks Arabic), which is like the puddle.

(speaks Arabic) - [Miriam] Tide pools.

- [Mother] That's the one, tide pools, yep.

(speaks Arabic) - [Miriam] Were you having fun?

Is this, are you smiling in this picture?

- [Mother] Oh, yeah, of course.

No, we were splashing.

- [Miriam] Oh, that's one of my favorite ones.

- [Mother] Yeah, because, like, that pool was really deep, Miriam, it's not like it was serious deep, and I remember (speaks Arabic), he was watching us.

- [Miriam] Who took the picture?

- [Mother] Yeah, I don't know.

That's for sure it was my camera, so it must be Saiid.

Either Saiid or Hamada.

- [Miriam] Okay, (speaks Arabic).

- [Mother] Yeah, here it is, it was summer '81.

- [Miriam] How old were you in '81?

You were 14.

- [Mother] Oh, 14, okay, yep.

- [Miriam] What's the next one?

- [Mother] Oh.

Oh, the next one is (speaks Arabic).

- [Miriam] That's my favorite one!

- [Mother] Why is it your favorite, is it the lighting?

- [Miriam] No, I just think you look so... You have so much personality, you look so... You look like me.

It's a pose that I would make, it's funny.

- [Mother] Oh.

So that was on the roof in the first house.

(speaks Arabic) And Saiid was out on the roof so he took it for me.

- [Miriam] How old were you?

- [Mother] Oh, I can't remember.

That was the summer for sure, I remember it was summer.

- [Miriam] I like that picture.

(speaks Arabic) Next one?

- [Mother] Oh, yeah.

This one I'm dancing in somebody's wedding, it looks like it's Fatima's wedding.

(speaks Arabic) The one I told you she's my godmother.

- [Miriam] Mm-hmm.

What were you wearing?

(speaks Arabic) You don't have it anymore?

- [Mother] I don't know.

I gave it, I left it there for the girls.

(speaks Arabic) We should ask her next time we go.

- [Miriam] Yeah, it would be my size.

- [Mother] Yeah, that's true.

- [Miriam] Next one?

- [Mother] Oh, the next one is with my cousin when she was giving birth at the hospital.

- [Miriam] Yuck.

- [Mother] We took food to her.

(speaks Arabic) - No, no, no.

It's chicken soup always.

Actually it's pigeon soup.

- [Miriam] Ugh.

(mother laughs) - [Mother] Sorry!

- [Miriam] What was it, was it a boy or a girl?

- [Mother] I think it was a girl.

Yeah.

(speaks Arabic) - [Miriam] Next one?

- [Mother] The next one was, oh, she was my neighbor.

She was our neighbor, she was a nurse, her name was Haddou.

- [Miriam] Haddou?

- [Mother] Yeah, Haddou and her daughter Ghislan.

- [Miriam] Ablizinan?

- [Mother] Ghislan.

- [Miriam] Oh, Ghislan.

- [Mother] Yeah.

We just went out for a walk, taking the girl to walk a little.

Because I had my camera and I took a picture.

- [Miriam] Who took the picture though?

It's not you, someone else took it.

- [Mother] Yeah, just somebody (speaks Arabic) - [Miriam] The next one?

- [Mother] Oh, next one.

It looks like it's an excursion.

- [Miriam] Another one?

- [Mother] Yeah, I think it was a summer camp.

- [Miriam] Oh, the one of you on the beach in the sunglasses?

- [Mother] No, no, not that one.

That one was fun, that was vacation, that wasn't an excursion.

No, the one on the ship, you know, the industrial commercial ship?

- [Miriam] Oh, the barge.

- [Mother] The barge, yeah.

They take us to look at all of these industrial things.

Oh, no, the one on the beach, her mom is my dad's cousin or something like that and we met up at the beach.

The one with the glasses, that was at the beach.

And the last one was cous cous.

(speaks Arabic) The village is called Al-Hadeed.

- [Miriam] Al-Hadeed?

- [Mother] No, Al-Hadeed, Hadeed, Hadeed.

Hadeed.

- [Miriam] Hadeed.

(speaks Arabic) - [Mother] Oh, okay, yeah, Hadeed.

Yeah, it's a nice cous cous.

Very special ceremony.

They decorate the cous cous.

That's it?

- [Miriam] Yeah, that's all the pictures, right?

- [Mother] Yep.

- [Miriam] Do you think if you met me when you were my age you would have liked me?

- [Mother] Of course.

- [Miriam] I don't think we would have gotten along.

- [Mother] I think we would have gotten along just because it's the same personality, Miriam.

- [Miriam] I don't think we have the same personality at all.

- [Mother] Maybe when I was your age.

- [Miriam] I think if you met me now, you would have judged me.

I have tattoos and piercings.

- [Mother] Then, you mean, in the '80s and '90s?

- [Miriam] Yeah, no, if you met me now, if we met in a zone that had no time period.

- [Mother] Ah, I don't think so.

- [Miriam] I don't know.

I don't know if I would have liked you.

- [Mother] Oh, my goodness.

(mother laughs) - [Miriam] You were much prettier than I am, you were much smarter.

- [Mother] (speaks Arabic) You are smart and you are pretty too.

- Learn more about the films and filmmakers in this season of "TV Film" at wmht.org/tv film and be sure to connect with WMHT on social media.

I'm Jermaine Wells.

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