Doc - SHOW ME THE LINE
Documentary Feature
Title: Show Me The Line
Project Status: In Postproduction
Logline
When an Alabama court jeopardizes access to IVF and her own embryos, artist Abbey Crain refuses to surrender her power. In this triumphant tour de force, Crain and a group of fertility patients reckon with bodily autonomy and threats to their future, unearthing hope from a divided reproductive landscape.
Synopsis
Families' lives turned upside-down after an Alabama court decided frozen IVF embryos are children. For reproductive journalist Abbey Crain, the ruling interrupted half a decade of fertility treatments, placing her dreams of motherhood—and her embryos—in constitutional crossfire.
But Crain refuses to surrender her voice. Prevailing with a pen and paintbrush, she begins a quest to honor the personhood of Alabama women through art. Crain invites others caught in this unsettled legal storm to a community stage where they reckon with grief and hope.
SHOW ME THE LINE cuts through the noise of sensational headlines to reveal the intimate, powerful stories behind them. Unpacking IVF’s history and science, this film reaches the heart of reproductive medicine across the Southern landscape. Through the unbreakable spirit of everyday citizens, SHOW ME THE LINE becomes a testament to justice, faith, creative resilience, and the pursuit of happiness.
Additional Project Information
Kelsey’s mom had a life threatening non-viable pregnancy as a young woman. As a result, she required IVF to conceive Kelsey and Kelsey’s twin. Kelsey is a queer person whose life is directly impacted by restrictive and dangerous laws and she is a woman of childbearing age with limited choices. Abbey is a friend and collaborator of Kelsey’s. They have worked together to translate boundless feelings and complicated experiences into visual media. Nearly a dozen women have shared their personal IVF journeys. We also have connections with the legal and human rights community who will speak on the decision and its unintended consequences.
From Kelsey: “I have woken every day since February 16 with an unshakable sense of purpose. Making this film feels like something I was literally born to do. Humanizing the lived experience of everyday Americans impacted by grief and reproductive injustice and investigating these complexities through art. The film comes at a crucial time when the world needs these powerful stories to enlighten and move us. My background as a visual artist, my experience working with artists, subject experts, and everyday Alabamians through public media documentaries, my personal connection with IVF, and my long standing relationship to the South have prepared my vision.”
Team
Directed by Kelsey Ianuzzi
Produced by Stacey Davis
Executive Produced by Paul Rogers
Camera - Hanna Lane Miller, Brett Whitcomb and Jessica Chriesman
Impact Producer - Rebecca Sheehan
Collaborating Artists - Melissa Springer, Pinky Bass
Financials
We have received monetary support from the following:
rePROFilm x Peace is Loud: Collective Lens
Verdant Fund
Individual Donors
Requests Pending:
Alexia Grant
Sundance Documentary Film Fund
GGSC's Spreading Love Through the Media Grant
Roy Dean (Spring Grant)
Sandbox Fund (Spring Cycle)
We will be applying to the following grants in the near future:
Catapult Film Fund
Chicken and Egg
Alabama Humanities Award
Working Assumptions
The Miller / Packan Film Fund
SFFILM Documentary Film Fund
We’ve been fortunate to receive non-monetary support from the following organizations:
Southern Producers Lab (New Orleans Film Society)
rePROFilm x Peace is Loud: Collective Lens
BendFilm: Base Camp
FilmShop Docshop South
Seeking
Producing partners, funding, sales agent, distribution
Rights Available
All rights available
Project Website
Contact
Stacey Davis
sdavis@staceydavislaw.com
205-777-9906