''Aftershock'' is a 2022 American

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

film directed and produced by Paula Eiselt and

Tonya Lewis Lee Tonya Linnette Lee (née Lewis; March 30, 1966) is an American attorney, film and television producer, author, entrepreneur, and advocate for women and infant health. She founded her production company, Madstone Company Inc., in 1998, and has be ...

. It follows Omari Maynard and Bruce McIntyre, whose partners died due to childbirth complications, which were preventable, as they fight for justice. The film, executive produced by filmmaker Dawn Porter, premiered at the

2022 Sundance Film Festival The 2022 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 20 to 30, 2022. Due to COVID-19 pandemic in Utah, COVID-19 pandemic protocol, it was initially intended to be an in-person/virtual hybrid festival, but on January 5, 2022, it was announced ...

on January 23, 2022. It was released on July 19, 2022, by ABC News Studios,

Onyx Collective Onyx Collective is a content brand owned and operated by Disney Entertainment, which primarily consists of projects from creators of color and other underrepresented groups. The brand was first launched on May 17, 2021, with several projects un ...

, and

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

. It received critical acclaim.

Plot

''Aftershock'' is a documentary that sheds light on the systemic failures of the U.S. maternal health system, which disproportionately endanger the lives of Black women. Centered on the tragic, preventable deaths of Shamony Gibson and Amber Rose Isaac during childbirth, the film follows their grieving partners, Omari Maynard and Bruce McIntyre, as they transform their pain into purpose. Through their activism and community-building with other surviving Black fathers, they rally for justice, expose the historical roots of neglect and exploitation in gynecology, and demand institutional reform. Seamlessly blending intimate personal stories with searing historical analysis, ''Aftershock'' uplifts the resilience of families and birth workers striving to create a more equitable and compassionate maternal health system, while calling attention to an urgent national crisis.

Release

''Aftershock'' had its world premiere at the

on January 23, 2022.

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

, and

shortly after acquired distribution rights to the film. It also screened at

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

on March 13, 2022.

Reception

Critical response

On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, it has a 100% approval rating based on reviews from 28 critics, with an average rating of 8.10/10. The website's consensus reads: "''Aftershock'' points a sobering spotlight on a public health crisis, maintaining a heartbreaking focus on its tragic human cost."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which uses a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

, assigned the film a score of 87 out of 100 based on 7 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Accolades

References

External links

* * * {{Rotten Tomatoes, aftershock_2022 2022 films 2022 documentary films American documentary films Documentary films about death Documentary films about health care Documentary films about pregnancy Hulu original films Onyx Collective original programming Impact Partners films 2020s English-language films 2020s American films English-language documentary films