Five Card Stud, an intimate glimpse of a group of friends forced to face the cards they have been dealt, is based on a short story also written by director JoAnn Gaudry. In 2002, JoAnn traveled to Vietnam and Cambodia as a photographer working to raise money for orphanages in areas still reverberating from the effects of the Vietnam war. There, JoAnn witnessed the ubiquity of so-called conflict babies—children born of rape and war-time sexual exploitation. The remarkable tenacity of these children despite their outcast status prompted JoAnn to write a story about her experience which led to the inception of Five Card Stud, the movie. Shot on a small budget, Five Card Stud was written and directed by JoAnn Gaudry as well as being her feature directorial debut.

5 Card Stud is a story about love, life, and the consequences of war as seen through the eyes of five women. Kay, Lynne, Sue, Barb and Roxanne met at university and have been close friends ever since. Over the years as each woman's standpoint on politics, power and belonging has grown and shifted, they have continued to get together for poker nights. When Roxanne discovers she is pregnant after having been date-raped, her friends are confronted with the reality of their own experiences of violence and war. From travel to countries crippled by conflict, to radical politics, to sexuality and selfhood, each woman brings to the table a unique perspective that bears witness to those forgotten in the aftermath of hostility and our incredible capacity for rebirth.