Bates Film Festival – Zurawski v Texas

directed by Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault
98 min. | 2024

The Bates Film Festival is a Maine-based gathering where students and attendees engage in civic-minded conversations and experience thought-provoking movies in community. The 2026 BFF will focus on the arts and how their representation in film brings individuals together, promotes mutual respect and understanding, and heightens civic engagement.

All events are free and open to the public in order to welcome a broader audience. Our festival is unique in that it is organized and programmed by Bates College students under the direction of Professor Jon Cavallero.

Zurawski v Texas (dir. Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault, 2024)

Zurawski v Texas follows three women navigating the restrictions on reproductive health imposed by Texas’s new abortion law. According to the state law, abortion is only permitted when the woman’s or the child’s health is at risk. However, because this risk is not well-defined, doctors are often afraid to perform the procedure for fear of being prosecuted. Each of the film’s three protagonists required abortions for health reasons but are forced to miscarry. The documentary follows the highs and lows, the laughs and tears, and the mundane and the suspenseful as the women and their attorney pursue litigation against the state. (Written by Claire Orfield, ’26)

Awards: Richard D. Propes Social Impact Award, Documentary Feature, Heartland International Film Festival; Audience Award, Active Cinema, Mill Valley Film Festival; Best Documentary Feature, Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival