How to Have an American Baby

How to Have an American Baby

Leslie Tai / 2023 / 114 / USA

How to Have an American Baby is a kaleidoscopic voyage into the booming shadow economy that caters to Chinese tourists who travel to the U.S. on “birthing vacations” in order to obtain U.S. citizenship for their babies. Tracing the underground birth tourism industry from Beijing to Los Angeles, the film weaves together vignettes and deeply private moments — inside bedrooms, delivery rooms, and family meetings. The story of a hidden global economy emerges, depicting the aspirations and anxieties, fortunes and tragedies that befall the ordinary people caught in the web of its influence.

  • “How to Have an American Baby is a virtual one-woman production, which may explain the extraordinary intimacy achieved by producer, writer, cinematographer, director and editor Leslie Tai”

    — The Wall Street Journal

  • “Tai [insists] on the humanity of the women involved.”

    — Los Angeles Times

  • "Sprawling in scope, observational in form and jaw-dropping in access."

    — Filmmaker Magazine

  • “How to Have an American Baby is a remarkable and mature work that not only documents a relatively unknown phenomenon and is a testimony to Chinese socioeconomic microcosm in a constant flux, but also a moving and thought provoking snapshot of women in Chinese society."

    — Asian Movie Pulse
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