Last spring we presented screenings of Adam Sekuler’s documentary TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS, which explored – with great frankness and bravery – end-of-life issues via the story of a married couple dealing with the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease. Now Sekuler returns with his most recent work, which serves as a poetic counterpoint to the earlier film insofar as it depicts the process – and challenging decisions involved in – giving birth. Angelle – the protagonist of 36 HOURS – rides the waves of emotion and physical pain without pharmaceutical intervention as she, along with her partner Nathan and her mother, try to follow a natural birth plan. As her contractions get heavier, though, Angelle gets caught in the undertow of time. Her birth is taking much longer than expected. Her preconceived notions of birth shattered, Angelle must make difficult decisions, bringing into focus the true work of motherhood and womanhood. Weaving together immersive vérité filmmaking and expressionistically-captured movement sequences, 36 HOURS is an intimate and visceral journey through one of our most universal experiences; the process of giving birth. “Considering that Adam Sekuler’s 2017 documentary TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS so expertly broaches the topic of death, it’s no surprise that his follow-up documentary feature, 36 HOURS, takes a similarly exceptional approach to the subject of birth, specifically as it’s happening in real time to one woman. […] As in TOMORROW, Sekuler’s camera becomes a tool for empathy, illuminating the most fraught moments in life – the act of dying, previously, and here the giving of birth – oftentimes in highly graphic ways. The film concludes with the delivery in all its hemic glory, but unlike some other films that use the emergence of a baby from the womb to either shock or amuse, 36 HOURS revels in the process as the miracle it truly is.” –Kathleen Sachs, CINE-FILE