Losing Layla

Synopsis

LOSING LAYLA is a video diary documentary that bears witness to a loss that has often been unrecognized in our community- the loss of a baby. The impact of stillbirth or neonatal death is often seen as ‘less than’ other deaths. Perhaps not as devastating as losing someone you ‘knew’. But as other parents who have lost babies will testify, no matter what the gestation, the pain is excruciating. LOSING LAYLA follows one couple’s journey through the struggle to get pregnant, the pregnancy, the death of their baby eight hours after birth and the grief that follows. Although LOSING LAYLA is the story of one couple and one baby, their loss speaks of the universal pain of this event.

Impact

The film aired on the ABC in March 2001 and the audience reaction was overwhelming. The documentary was startling for its raw expression of grief in a society where the pain of loss is so often hidden. People were shocked, startled, amazed and thankful for this glimpse into human vulnerability. For parents who had also lost a child, the film was a validation of their own grief and gave those close to them some idea of what they too had endured. For many other parents, the film gave them a deeper appreciation of the preciousness of their own children and many reported going into their children's bedrooms that night and hugging them while they slept.

The filmmaker received ( and continues to receive) many hundreds of letters and emails telling of a profound effect the film had on many lives. The documentary is now used as a training tool for doctors and midwives in the obstetric fields. The film shows Michael and Vanessa holding and bathing their dead child, making memories, taking photographs and spending some days in her presence. The film gave professional staff and hopefully, people around the grieving parents of the future, ideas about what can help when the unthinkable happens.

The film is also used as a training tool for grief counselors. Besides becoming an important teaching tool, it is a startling window into the human condition that is imprinted on the hearts and minds of the people who saw it. The film still has a life of its own, being passed on and spoken about in the loose international network of parents who have lost a baby to any cause.

The documentary was picked up by the prestigious Canadian distribution firm, Films Transit and sold to fifteen countries around the world. It aired on the HBO cable network in the USA and on the ARTE cable network in Europe. It won the ATOM award for best documentary 2001 and director Vanessa Gorman was nominated for an AFI award for direction in 2001.

Such was the interest in the film, the Australian Story program did a follow-up to the film in 2002 chronicling the birth of Vanessa’s subsequent child.