Ten Leaves Dilated is a documentary that uses the make-believe world crafted by Cabbage Patch Kids to examine discourses surrounding childbirth and motherhood in the American South. A household name in the 80s and 90s, Cabbage Patch Kids are plush dolls that are said to be born out of a head of cabbage. The headquarters, located in Cleveland, Georgia, offers an experience where children can watch their dolls being born through a simulated medical birth where store employees dressed as nurses act out birthing a babydoll from a cabbage patch. The film uses audio interviews of mothers, doulas, and birth professionals alongside a visual exploration of cabbage birthing myths and fairytales throughout history in order to investigate the modern-day cabbage patch fairy tale and its connection to the lack of candid discussion about birthing in our society.

Director Biography

Kate E. Hinshaw is a tactile filmmaker and cinematographer who works with digital and film cameras alike. Coming from an experimental background, she is interested in using the cinematic gaze to render visible the interiority of the feminine. Tactily, she works with 16mm and super 8mm film through bleaching, scratching, painting, and burning the emulsion in order to tell stories through color and texture. Her work has screened at SXSW, Maryland Film Festival, Atlanta Film Festival, Denver Film Festival, and Indie Grits. She earned an MFA at the University of Colorado at Boulder in Spring 2020 where she was awarded a teaching excellence award for her work as a digital cinematography instructor and was the recipient of the 2020 Vanishing Angle Post Production Grant. She currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia where she publishes and curates Analog Cookbook—a film zine that celebrates and shares knowledge of analog filmmaking, darkroom processes, and features artists from all over the world.