The Last Partera
About the Film
At 100 years old, Doña Miriam confronts the end of her life cycle, passing on her wisdom as one of the last living traditional Costa Rican midwives in the region. Inspired by her courage and strength, a new generation pushes for stronger women-centered healthcare at the foot of an active volcano.
Directors: Victoria Bouloubasis, Ned Phillips
Producer: Pilar Timpane
Costa Rica, United States // 2025 // Documentary // Los Features
93 minutes
About the Filmmaker
Victoria Bouloubasis is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker and journalist based in Durham, N.C. Her work aims to dispel myths about the Global South against the backdrop of complex social, political and personal histories. In 2024, she directed and co-produced FORGET ME NOT for Univision, an Emmy-nominated short doc about the rising rates of dementia in the Mexico-Texas borderlands. In 2023, RISING UP IN THE HEARTLAND (Univision) won 1st place in the Documentary Journalism category at the Picture of the Year International (POYi) contest, a 1st place ONA award for pandemic coverage, and was nominated for a 2023 News & Doc Emmy. HEROES OF THE PANDEMIC, a Univision/Enlace Latino NC film she co-directed and co-produced, won a 2021 Murrow Award and two 2021 Webby Awards. NIÑAS, a film she co-directed and produced with Agencia Ocote in Guatemala, was part of a comprehensive transmedia project NO FUE EL FUEGO that won the 2022 Premio Gabo. She was a producer for the PBS docuseries SOMEWHERE SOUTH (2020). Victoria has reported from the US South and rural Midwest, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Greece. She is an alumna of the New Orleans Film Society Southern Producers Lab, DocShop South, IWMF, and UC Berkeley's Investigative Reporting Program Film Fellowship. THE LAST PARTERA is her first feature.
Ned Phillips is an Emmy-winning filmmaker based in Durham, N.C. He graduated with honors from Goucher College and went on to earn a certificate in Documentary Arts from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. Since then, he has shot and edited multiple films, including the documentary feature Truth Underground (2016), which played at Cucalorus, RiverRun International Film Festival, Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival, and others. He currently works as an editor and cinematographer with Markay Media, which produced the Emmy-award winning PBS documentary series A CHEF’S LIFE and HBO limited series BURDEN OF PROOF. Ned's directorial debut, THE MAESTRO (2018), premiered at the RiverRun International Film Festival. THE LAST PARTERA is his first feature.
