MARCH 28 » 12:00p »
APRIL 1 » 5:45p »
UNITED STATES PREM
2007, Australia, 52 min.
Director/Screenwriter: Janet Merewether
Cast: Janet Merewether
Janet Merewether is an independent and opinionated woman thriving in her filmmaking career. But at 39, she suddenly wakes up to the sound of her biological clock booming like a gong. Tired of waiting for the perfect partner, she decides to take charge of her fertility and embark on a solo adventure in motherhood, which she documents every step of the way.
Merewether tackles her subject with wry Australian humor and a quirky visual style combined with an uncompromising eye for the physical and emotional messiness that comes with her choice. She starts by exploring her options for obtaining the one thing she definitely needs from a man: sperm. There’s the clinical method—a donor vial accompanied by a list of characteristics—and the more down-and-dirty option—a vodka-fueled hookup after a Nine Inch Nails concert. But what are the consequences when a father’s role in a child’s life stops at sowing his seed?
Musing on what it means to be a father, Merewether takes an honest look at her relationship with her own dad, a traditional “head-of-the-household” who worked long hours during her childhood and had little involvement in her life. She can’t give her child a traditional nuclear family — but maybe that’s not a bad thing.
— Amy Roeder
PLAYING WITH
The Spider
Juan Declan
3 min.
What webs we weave when we are the deceitful spider.
Motherhood
Brian Brennan & Kevin Krutz
4 min.
The horror and ecstasy of birth knit in a woman’s entrails.
The Marina Experiment
Marina Lutz
18 min.
A daughter reflects on being the object of her father’s obsession through his films, photos, and audio recordings.
