A Lafayette Hill native is bringing a film home to Montco that isn’t afraid to have the awkward conversation and laugh along the way.

Bonnie Gross, a writer and executive producer, created the feature film, Lady Parts. The comedy is based on her true story of living with chronic vulvar and vaginal pain and then moving back in with her parents in Montco to undergo surgery. The premise is intentionally disarming. It invites audiences into a topic many people instinctively avoid, then uses humor to keep the door open long enough for something deeper to land.

Gross’s goal isn’t shock value. It’s comfort — or, at least, a path toward it. Lady Parts is meant to make the uncomfortable conversations around women’s health feel less isolating, and more normal to have at the dinner table, in a doctor’s office, or between partners.

In the film, the medical reality is real: pain, confusion, and the grind of trying to be taken seriously. “I was medically gaslit for years,” Gross told American Community Journals.

Still, the film makes the story relatable even for viewers unfamiliar with the specific diagnosis. As Gross tells it, this isn’t just a movie about women’s health. It’s about chronic pain, the vulnerability of needing help, and what support looks like.

Looking back on the version of herself who went home for surgery, Gross said she’d offer one simple message: “Let your guard down. Be vulnerable… because if you’re vulnerable, then the people around you are going to get more vulnerable too.”

At its core, Gross says, the film is also a love letter to her parents. While pop culture often paints fathers as clueless or squeamish about women’s health, Lady Parts flips that script.

Gross portrays parents who are deeply supportive, sometimes awkward, sometimes overbearing, but always present. 

The film was shot in Los Angeles in 2022 and post-production wrapped in 2023. Lady Parts premiered at the Florida Film Festival in 2024, where it won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature and a Special Jury Award for Screenwriting.

Additional festival wins followed, including a Jury Award for Best Comedy Feature at the Austin Film Festival, affirming that audiences were ready to embrace the film’s bold mix of candor and comedy.

The Bryn Mawr Film Institute will host a special screening of Lady Parts Saturday, March 28.

To get your tickets, vist The Bryn Mawr Film Institute.