A pregnant woman takes a test.


PREPARTUM is used with permission from Ben Nabors. Learn more at https://grouptheory.com.


Liam and Blair are expectant parents switching to a private medical practice for Blair's pregnancy. The couple are both caring and invested in their unborn child, and Liam wants only the best. The private practice comes with additional tests, like one that tracks the brain development of their baby, including the ability to "see" the baby's dreams.

Liam and Blair haven't yet gone in for the advanced testing, but Liam is deeply curious, though his wife is less so. Liam's brother Devin even advises them not to do the tests, thinking the less information the better. But Liam's curiosity gets the better of him -- only to open up disturbing revelations that put the future of his family in question.

Directed and written by Ben Nabors, this intriguing short sci-fi drama sits at the intersection of science, knowledge and humans' emotional and social lives, positing fascinating questions about birth, pregnancy and human reproduction. The "sci-fi" aspect of the storytelling is primarily a medical one, where parents have the ability to "see" what their unborn children in the womb can perceive. It's a fascinating premise, parlayed into thought-provoking directions and rich human drama.

The world of the film is very close to the modern one we live in now, and the short has a low-key, slightly moody naturalistic look, accordingly. Liam and Blair sound like any relatable well-off married couple expecting a child, and they have the means for the best, most cutting-edge medical care. The excellent writing and directing charts Liam's growing curiosity as the driving force of momentum, as he becomes especially interested in the role of an unborn baby's dreams on human cognitive development. But his wife doesn't quite share his enthusiasm, and at a family dinner party with Liam's brother Devin and his wife, opinions are divided, revealing a cross-section of attitudes towards prenatal testing and the "optimization" of human beings, even before birth.

Liam and Blair's relationship emerges as an intriguing one as the film develops, and what appears to be a placidly happy marriage shows tiny cracks of differences as the narrative unfurls. These differences haven't quite opened up into outright conflict, but the storytelling is perceptive and emotionally intelligent enough to plant the seeds of possible future discord. As Liam and Blair, actors Ami Malaklou and Ana Nogueira balance this dance of surface harmony and underlying tension, with Liam often more interested in his unborn son than his wife and not noticing how Blair is distracted in other ways. This inattention comes back to haunt him when they go in for the cognitive test and sees results that will change Liam's world and perhaps the future he has been so invested in.

Smart, measured and compelling, PREPARTUM ends with a fascinating evocation of a fetus's consciousness, which constitutes perhaps the only use of special effects in the film. But the most dramatic effect is this technology's ramifications on Liam, Blair and the family they're creating together. It ends with a revelation, one that could constitute both an emotional cliffhanger and an entree into a richer, larger narrative. But as a short, it explores the underlying question of this and many other sci-fi stories: is it possible to have too much knowledge? And do humans have not just the cognitive capabilities to create this technology, but the moral and emotional ones to deploy it wisely?