Written and directed by Bruce Isacson, South Dakota deals with the unplanned pregnancy of two young women and the conflict of women’s rights to choose. The film, set for release in April 6th of 2012, stars Tessa Thompson, Amanda Aday, Reid Ewing and Allen Maldonado.
Here’s the About the Film, courtesy of the film’s website:
SOUTH DAKOTA is a unique film in which filmmaker Bruce Isacson intricately blends the powerful drama of a scripted motion picture along with the compelling impact of documentary elements. The film portrays two dramatic stories about unplanned pregnancies along with sound bites of passionate pro choice and pro life advocates.
Barb’s story is set in a South Dakota Norman Rockwell town. Barb is a 14-year-old high school track star and cheerleader in love with her 15-year-old star athlete boyfriend when a single moment of passion changes their lives forever. Barb is a “real-life” JUNO. Chris’s story is set in Philadelphia. Chris is a black teenager who is pregnant because of rape and lives with other runaways in parks and under bridges. Both girls deny their situation for too long as they avoid making the most important choice of their young lives. As Chris and Barb seek answers to help make their decision about having a baby or terminating the pregnancy, the film presents interviews with experts on those questions with opposing views about a woman’s right to choose.
As the stories unfold on the screen under Isacson’s direction of a talented cast, he simultaneously creates a fascinating mosaic of contradictory truths about the complex issues related to a woman’s right to choose. Through fast paced clips from documentary interviews with a wide range of political, scientific, legal and cultural experts who passionately share their views, Isacson assembles sound bites like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle to accentuate the labyrinthine nature of the situation faced by each young woman. The emotional conclusion of each story leaves audiences with a profoundly new understanding of a woman’s right to choose.
Here’s the trailer.