OUR CHILD (Menschenskind!)

OUR CHILD (Menschenskind!)

Director: Marina Belobrovaja 
Category: Society, Social Issues, Parenthood, Personal point of view
Production: Gabriela Bussmann: GoldenEggProduction / Switzerland 2021
Language: German, Russian

Subtitles: English, German
Length: 82 minutes

Marina explores the social ideas surrounding parenthood and family. Accompanying her on her journey, we discover the multitude of notions and aspects of fatherhood: biological father, genetic father, sperm donor, progenitor, recognized father without custody rights. Here is a journey in the belly of a new society based on unconventional families.    

Marina Belobrovaja called on Noë, a sperm donor, to conceive her daughter Nelly, with the blessing of her family based in Tel Aviv. For the filmmaker, this choice also leads to a series of questions that she shares, between Berlin, Zurich and Dresden, with individuals escaping the traditional model of parenthood, still significant in Western societies. Marina explores the social ideas surrounding parenthood and family. Accompanying her on her journey, we discover the multitude of notions and aspects of fatherhood: biological father, genetic father, sperm donor, progenitor, recognized father without custody rights. We also discover the unexpected emotional turmoil created by the birth of a child for the men involved. Here is a journey in the belly of a new society based on unconventional families.
Is parenthood the only logical continuation of every life? Has the traditional concept of the nuclear family had its day? The filmmaker has achieved what many women in a comparable situation think about but never actually do. In the film, based on her daughter’s procreation story and with the help of a sperm donor, Marina Belobrovaja deals with existing social ideas, role patterns and conventions around parenthood and family.

 

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Synopsis in French: Mère célibataire, par choix. Marina Belobrovaja, 45 ans, n’a pas voulu attendre le partenaire idéal pour concevoir sa fille. Elle a eu recours à un don de sperme, puis réalisé un film sans concession sur son parcours. Pour la cinéaste, ce choix engendre aussi une série de questions qu’elle partage, entre Berlin, Zurich et Dresde, avec des individus échappant au modèle classique de la parentalité, encore prégnant dans les sociétés occidentales.

Synopsis in German: Braucht eine Frau zwingend einen Mann, um ein Kind zu bekommen? Und wird er automatisch zum Vater, wenn es zur Zeugung mit seinem Samen kommt? Die Filmemacherin Marina Belobrovaja hat einen radikalen Weg zur Mutterschaft gewählt, über den viele alleinstehende Frauen nachdenken, ihn aber doch nicht gehen. In Menschenskind! setzt sie sich, ausgehend von der Zeugungsgeschichte ihrer Tochter mit Hilfe eines Samenspenders, mit den bestehenden  gesellschaftlichen Vorstellungen, Rollenmustern und Konventionen rund um Elternschaft und Familie auseinander.

Festivals & Awards:

Movie Reviews:
* « Unpredictable, funny, tormenting, unnerving, beautiful. » Beklemmend und wunderschön / Laura Hertreiter / Süddeutsche Zeitung
* « A courageous and unconventional journey through the twists and turns of parenthood. » Review: Our Child / Muriel Del Don / Cineuropa
* « Funny, self-critical and illuminating. » OUR CHILD (MENSCHENSKIND!) / DOK.fest München
* « Our Child offers a sincere, stimulating and embodied reflection on this issue that continues to fuel controversy in Western societies. » Our Child / Emmanuel Chicon / Visions du Réel
* « Hats off to Marina Belobrovaja for making a full-length documentary while parenting solo. Menschenskind! is an intensely intimate and at times discomforting inquiry that raises significant questions about who has the right to bear children. » MENSCHENSKIND! / Jodie McNeilly-Renaudie / Filmexplorer
* « Our Child outlines an ambitious path: it shows the fate of a woman, that of the director herself, who feels the compelling need to have a child. Thus, she seeks out a sperm donor, whom she meets in an anonymous hotel room. This story is thereafter rooted in the daily coexistence of the the girl and her mother, which she documents with a video camera. But Marina Belobrovaja’s ambition is to reflect on her choices and their consequences in relation to widespread social values. How is she perceived by her environment and how does she deal with the fact that her child is growing up without a father? » Jean Perret

* Watch: VdR 2021 (Visions du Réel) | Q&A | Our Child | Marina Belobrojava
* Watch: DOK.fest München 2021 | Film Talks | OUR CHILD (MENSCHENSKIND!)

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