“ABSOLUTELY SAFE is an insightful, moving, and necessary look at the effect of silicone implants on women’s lives. By offering a variety of perspectives Carol Ciancutti-Leyva is able to capture the complexity of this controversial topic. ABSOLUTELY SAFE should be mandatory viewing for any woman contemplating implants.”
- Kimberly Sedgwick, Co-Founder and Director of Red Tent Sisters, Toronto, Canada

“ABSOLUTELY SAFE offers women of all ages a unique set of perspectives about the true risks and benefits of breast implants. We listen to women tell their stories, we hear from plastic surgeons with opposing views about the safety of these devices, and we witness illuminating footage from several public hearings conducted by the Food and Drug Administration. It is the perfect antidote to ads and TV shows that now routinely mislead women into thinking that these devices have been proven to be safe.”
- Judy Norsigian, Co-Author and Executive Director, Our Bodies Ourselves

“Our screening and panel discussion of ABSOLUTELY SAFE was the best attended gender-related programming we’ve had in the history of the University of Texas at Dallas, with approximately 120 students in attendance. Our students loved this program. ABSOLUTELY SAFE explained the science behind the controversy over the safety of breast implants, but put a human face on all those statistics and research. The white-coated doctors and scientists in the film made their points, but students also went along on the journeys of two women—one getting breast implants and one getting her ruptured implants removed. This film engaged our students, who had over an hour of questions and comments after the screening. They left the program (in their own words) “enlightened,” “angry,” “disgusted,” “appalled,” and–above all—wanting to talk some more about women’s health, ideals of beauty, and the health risks of implants. And they did— to their roommates, their girlfriends, their mothers, and their friends, among others. This is just an amazing, powerful film for engaging students with issues of gender, power, and health policy. “
- Erin Smith, Associate Director, Gender Studies Program, University of Texas, Dallas

“Harrowing, human, and persuasive, ABSOLUTELY SAFE is an important and beautifully made piece that explores the sometimes deadly and disfiguring consequences of breast implants. Full of nuanced observations, the film chronicles the experience of women who are in various stages of either choosing to get breast implants, or to have them removed. ABSOLUTELY SAFE is a story that must be told and absolutely must be seen”.
- Rob Moss, Director of “Secrecy” and “The Same River Twice”

“This moving and disturbing film follows the journeys of two women, one seeking to have her leaking implants removed, the other seeking to have breast augmentation. Interspersed with these tales we meet plastic surgeons both for and against the surgery; women who have suffered mightily due to their silicone implants, including the filmmaker’s mother; and members of the FDA committee who decide whether or not to allow silicone back on the market. All along the viewer feels powerfully the impact pressures to be beautiful have and have had on American women. Breast implants clearly “solve” the problem while introducing myriad new ones. ABSOLUTELY SAFE should be mandatory viewing for every woman considering surgery. Watching the brutal extraction of failed implants from a patient’s chest wall should be enough to give anyone pause. And the young mother who decided to get implants shares with us her loss of breast sensation. A sense of sadness lingers over the scene. This film makes starkly clear that the female sense of inadequacy is not an individual phenomenon. Institutionalized sexism affects all of us. Destroying our health seems to be an acceptable solution. ABSOLUTELY SAFE bravely challenges the status quo.”
- Diana York Blaine, Ph.D., The Writing and Gender Studies Program, University of Southern California

“We were interested in this film as breast implants have become the most popular elective surgery in Israel in the last few years. It has also become affordable to almost everyone. We believe in educating our viewers as to all aspects of these types of surgeries and this film sheds a light on the possible dangers that are involved in these surgeries.”
- Daphna Israeli, YES Network, Israel

“Showing ABSOLUTELY SAFE on campus was the best thing I did for Boston College students this year. The film is a harrowing warning to the dangers of breast implants, as well as a captivating look at the social and political dynamics that shape the controversy of implants in our society. I applaud Carol for making and sharing such an important film, and I strongly encourage everyone to see it!”
- Lauren Brown, Women’s Studies Program Boston College