Endometriosis An Invisible Battle

Introduction:

Endometriosis An Invisible Battle is a documentary that follows the stories of three individuals who share their journey navigating doctors, public healthcare and insurance to gain a diagnosis. Talking about health can be daunting, but we want to bring this issue out into the open to educate and help improve women’s health. Our documentary will bring these women’s struggles with the disease to life as we advocate for women to know more and receive better treatment in the future.

Our Drive:

Endometriosis, a common inflammatory disease, affects roughly 1 in 10 girls, women and those assigned female at birth in New Zealand. Symptoms can include period pain, pelvic pain and infertility; currently, the only way to definitely diagnose Endometriosis is with a laparoscopy. Our team wishes to allow our participants to tell their stories, which will shed light on this important topic and hope for an improvement in women’s health through a deeper understanding.

The purpose is informational and educational:

Through women speaking up, we wish to normalise the conversation, whilst giving women the confidence to vocalize their pain, receive a better range of treatment and explore options outside of the norm. Too common are stories of girls and young women suffering from period pain who are dismissed and felt unseen. On average, there is a diagnostic delay of 8+ years from the first signs of symptoms to receiving a diagnosis. As a production team, we want to contribute our skills to provoke discussion about health equity and inspire females to speak out about their struggles to improve health outcomes for women.

Our Team:

We are a group of passionate and motivated filmmakers looking forward to showcasing our team's creative skills. Emma Wilburn, our director, was diagnosed with Endometriosis at age sixteen. For her, this documentary is a passion project. Partnering with our producer Brooke Walker who is an organisation extraordinaire. Janice Jiang is our expressive cinematographer with an eye for detail. Christina Milligan plays a significant role as our Executive Producer, guiding us through with her artistic vision. Joining our crew for sound and lighting are Danvis Tornquist and Nathan Dodds; both have extensive knowledge and a lengthy background in filmmaking.

Our Promise:

This documentary is written and directed by Emma Wilburn, produced by Brooke Walker, and our cinematographer is Janice Jiang. We are third-year AUT students completing our final year of the Bachelor of Communications with a major in Screen Production. We are passionate about the message behind this documentary and want to contribute to breaking the stigma of not talking about women’s health topics. Our interviewees are very courageous in sharing their stories. Through our compassionate approach, we aim to be sensitive and appreciative of their needs.

If you wish to stay updated on the documentary’s progress our Instagram account is @endometriosis_short_doco.

Thank you in advance for your support and generosity.

Regards Brooke, Emma and Janice.