LOGLINE

Pregnant on the Streets is a documentary that sheds light on the individual battles and personal victories of homeless women who are or were Pregnant in the San Francisco Bay Area. Struggling without a home, they desperately desire to raise their children in a safe and healthy environment. We intimately experience their difficulties, either navigating aid services or lost in a fog of mental health issues and drugs. We come to witness the struggle of their lives but also the possibilities for change and a hopeful future.

Teaser

WHY THIS DOCUMENTARY MUST BE MADE

MISSION STATEMENT

The San Francisco Bay Area has a largely invisible homeless population — pregnant women.

 

200 women in San Francisco were both homeless and pregnant at some point during the 2018-19 fiscal year, according to an analysis of individuals using DPH and HSH services.

 

A study by UCSF’S California Preterm Birth Initiative found housing instability during pregnancy increases the odds of preterm birth by 20 percent. 

That dwarfs the cost of placing them indoors.

 

And now, consider the challenges alongside COVID-19 and you have an urgent situation with many lives at risk—precarious futures of little ones, a perpetuation of a cycle.

 

We see the film as an opportunity to provide a platform for the women who face untold hardship on the streets while pregnant. We provide a face and story to the numbers.

PROJECT STATUS

With the documentary more than halfway finished, we’re currently seeking financial investors to provide finishing funds. The financial support will be used to cover the remaining production expenses and complete post-production. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, please email us at laura@lauraferro.com

DIRECTOR’S NOTE

WHY I AM THE ONE TO TELL THIS STORY

I was pregnant with my son when I saw a news story about a homeless woman in the San Francisco Bay Area who gave birth at a bus stop. I cannot describe the amount of sorrow I felt. Here I was planning my delivery at one of the best hospitals in the country while another woman, who could have been me, is giving birth in such terrible conditions. When I became aware of the scale of the problem that these homeless women are experiencing, I felt a sense of duty to take action and use the resources I have to raise awareness as well as help with the cause. As I began interviewing women on the streets, I had the chance to create a transparent and trust-based relationship with those experiencing pregnancy while being homeless. This allowed us to capture genuine, vulnerable moments with women who were willing to share their lives on camera. From there, we took on the responsibility to tell these stories to the world.

BEHIND THE SCENES

TEAM OF PASSIONATE ARTISTS

Laura Ferro

Producer, Director and Editor

Originally from Argentina. Laura Ferro is the founder and creative director of Rebel Monk, a video production company based in Silicon Valley that provides video content for the tech industry.

With a strong background in creation and art project coordination, she began crafting international music videos and then, worked for commercial productions, i.e., in the tech industry with work that included animation and corporate videos. She art directed an art piece called Shifted (shown in more than 20 film festivals and screenings around the world) and created and directed the music video Tidal Wave (nominated Favorite 2015 Music Video from the MYX Music Awards in the Philippines and with more than 2 million views on VEVO). Since joining the Silicon Valley filmmaking community, Laura has had the opportunity to work for brands such as Facebook, Samsung, The Sierra Club, and several others in the USA.

Read more

Shawn Shearin

Line Producer

Shawn has been working with the homeless community doing outreach specifically aimed at women for the past 8 years at the non-profit organization Street Life Ministries— providing resources for services and

other means of support. Part of her work involves visiting the homeless camps and working to build trusting relationships with women in need. Thanks to her experience and knowledge of the Bay Area streets, she has been crucial for the project, scheduling interviews with experts, doing location scouting, and establishing contact with pregnant women. She brings her extensive support and viability to the film. Shawn graduated with a BA in Psychology at Azusa Pacific University and has nearly completed her graduate degree in counseling. Shawn also coordinated several fundraising campaigns in the past, to benefit the homeless communities in need. In August 2020, she led a fundraising effort for child survivors of human trafficking in Ghana. Writing and photography are grounding activities she draws upon as ways to balance her street work with her personal life.

Read more

Jessica Fee

Associate Producer

Jessica is a seasoned producer, with experience producing both feature film and commercial videos. After working in-house in video production at Apple and Snapchat, Jessica worked on the development team at PRETTYBIRD.

As a freelance producer, Jessica has also worked with clients including Toyota and Sony Music. Originally from the Bay Area, her work has brought her around the globe – from Hong Kong to Berlin to Seoul, South Korea. She graduated cum laude from New York University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Media & Culture studies, and now lives and works in Los Angeles.

Read more

Julia Camara

Consulting Producer

She is a Brazilian writer/filmmaker. Born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil, she freelanced for years as a Portuguese translator for film and television subtitling. She has written and directed several award-winning

short films. Her feature directorial debut In Transit, an experimental drama shot mostly in one day and with improvised dialogue, won Best Experimental Film at four different festivals. Julia also wrote the sci-fi feature Area Q (starring Isaiah Washington), the road movie Open Road (starring Andy Garcia, Juliette Lewis and Camilla Belle), and the award-winning sci-fi found footage feature Occupants (starring Star Trek: Voyager’s Robert Picardo). Occupants has screened at 150 festivals all over the world and has won over 100 awards including a Telly Award for writing. Julia teaches Screenwriting at UCLA Extension. In the Spring of 2020, Julia started teaching the brand-new course Inclusive Screenwriting. Julia’s articles about screenwriting and filmmaking can be seen on WeScreenplay blog, Luz Collective and the Ms. In The Biz archives. Julia’s latest project is the eBook That’s What She Wrote, a collection of articles and interviews about screenwriting and filmmaking.

Read more

Robin Webster

Cinematographer

Robin has been working in London and Los Angeles. He is a cinematographer with more than 10 years of experience in both Hollywood and independent feature films, television dramas,

commercials, documentaries, and branded or corporate content work. He began his career working in the camera department as a trainee and progressed through the ranks, working with some of the world’s finest artists and technicians on films such as Beauty and The Beast (2017), Skyfall (2012), Star Wars Episode VII (2015) and Rogue One (2016). Robin learned his craft whilst watching and working alongside the world’s master cinematographers such as Roger Deakins, Darius Khondji, and Janusz Kaminski, and has since been a DOP / lead cinematographer for a number of independent short fiction films as well as commercial content work for Snapchat and production companies Academy and MJZ.

Read more

Gabe Martinez

Audio Engineer

Gabe is a sound recordist who has been in the business for six years. What makes him stand out is his passion and dedication to storytelling. He especially enjoys working with non-profit organizations due

to his own desire to help others and to spread awareness about issues he cares about. Some of the organizations he’s worked for include: Heirs To our Oceans, the Fremont Nature Learning Center, and The National AIDS Foundation. In addition, Gabe regularly works with high-profile companies such as Facebook, Amazon, and ESPN to produce media content. He’s keen to take on new opportunities that allow him to be immersed in environments that are vastly different from what he’s used to. Gabe studied at Cogswell Polytechnical College in Sunnyvale, California, and has a Bachelor of Science in Digital Audio Technology which encompasses recording, editing, mixing, sound design, post-production, and implementation of interactive sound and music. He’s been working in production sound mixing and boom operating.

Read more

John W. Snyder

Composer

John is a Los Angeles-based pianist, who scores films, documentaries, theatrical works, theme parks, and commercials for numerous clients such as Sony, Warner Brothers, Capitol Records, SyFy, Chevy,

Lexus, DJI, Volkswagen, MTV, CNN, Disney, Lenovo, Bosch, and many more. He also provides additional arrangements and orchestrations for popular bands and international agencies such as Watsky, Clipping, Black Cat White Cat, and Syn Studios. Snyder holds a master’s from UCLA (M.M.) and has been honored by ASCAP, the Wheaton Scholastic Society, UCLA’s Henry Mancini Award, and others.

Read more

Paul Salerno

Composer

Paul is a guitarist and educator living in Los Angeles. He graduated from USC’s Thornton School of music with a B.M. in Studio/Jazz Guitar in 2015. Soon after graduation, he became an assistant

David Fleming and helped on projects such as Chicago Fire, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, and Transformers: The Last Knight. Moreover, he worked on BBC’s Blue Planet II, contributing guitars and mandolins, and has composed for shows such as FBI: Most Wanted.

Read more