Hot Docs Interview: Maria Armalovsky on Future Baby

Maria Armalovsky, director of Future Baby 

Austria's Maria Armalovsky's documentary Future Baby raises some interesting questions about the ways in which people will be able to select their version of family. We are far from the days of "test tube baby" Louise Brown, but in years ahead, the question of "where do babies come from?" will be answered in a more ways than we ever anticipated. Future Baby screens at Hot Docs 2016 on April 30, May 2 and May 8th. Click here for show times/venue and to buy tickets.

donna g: I thought I knew what to expect from your film, after all, it's called Future Baby; however, you ventured into territory that I didn't even think about. As a woman who has decided to remain child free, your film made me realize that reproductive biotechnology raises issue that are societal as well as individual. 

Maria Armalovsky: Yes, you are right, emerging reproduction technologies combined with the relatively new knowledge of genetics is an issue that goes far above the topic of how to get babies. We are starting to understand, that we really could change and design the evolution of our species. Which is a huge topic. With FUTURE BABY I wanted to make people understand, that the craving or urge to have a baby gets things rolling. Scientist and doctors are triggered to offer solutions that become more and more sophisticated. You can earn a lot with new ideas. The marketplace to create a "perfect child" is huge. I suppose that is something very human to want the best for your child – so if you get the chance to look out for the "best" options, future parents will be tempted. But as you say, it is not only about parents, or children 2.0, it is about society that will change when some people use those technologies while others can't afford it.

donna g: How long did you spend researching the topic?

Maria: We have been researching for 2 years and the production took 3 years – but to be honest, since I started to research, I never stopped  being driven to learn more about it.


donna g: Your film takes us to several countries, and while it wasn't a surprise to see a Mexican city in your film, I didn't expect to see Villahermosa. Why that city?


Maria: Fertility tourism, makes it possible to undermine the national laws of the country you are living in, and also it offers cheaper opportunities to make affordable choices for intended parents. This means, if you have a state that offers cheap surrogacy with relatively good medical standards plus laws that make it seemingly easy for IPs to bring the children home – you will have a market place that will raise steadily. The need and the offer combined with women in very bad economic conditions makes a combination that is bringing in business to countries and nations that have a strong urge to make better business. When we started the research, India was the biggest player for affordable surrogacy for hetero and homosexual couples. After some scandals and work from NGOs that tried to protect the surrogates it shut down. So everybody fell for Thailand, more and more clinics where offering packages for the "West". Then again: scandals, irritations about men having babies and Thailand was shut down. When we had to shoot the surrogate story Villahermosa was the place to go, it was just opened to a wider international fertility audience. The law allowed you to have a baby with a surrogate if she gave birth to the child in the state of Tabasco. Villahermosa as the capital of Tabasco was the place with the best hospitals, airport, hotels, advocates etc.

Noa (right) and her mother, Ruth

donna g: Could you share how you met the family from Israel--the single mother and her daughter? They really brought home to me the similarity between children of sperm donation and adoption.


Maria: Yes exactly, everything adopted children had been fighting for, namely to have a right to get more information about their biological parents – is the same with children of 3rd party reproduction. But all the struggles adopted adults have  had (they don't stay children) to change the law and to change the perspective of adults involved in the business, are somehow useless, if society does not make that connection with 3rd party reproduction. Noa – the young woman from Israel- is raising her voice because she is desperate that the state and doctors make the change for her to know more about her heritage. This means not that she needs a father figure but that she wants, like every child, to know for example, why her nose looks the way it does, why she is the only one in her family liking Sauerkraut, why she has migraines very often. Noa wants to know, if she has half siblings, she would like to connect with them since they share perhaps similar ways to be in the world. She is also afraid of incest since she is not able to know with whom she shares a bloodline. Her mother Ruth, understood that depriving Noa of such essential information does not help in building good mother-daughter bonds, so she tried to help Noa and started a blog in Israel, to get more information out: why it is important for children of 3rd party reproduction to ban anonymity in the process. This is how we found them.


donna g: The concept of artificial wombs sounds like something from a Philip K Dick story. I know we're not there yet, but did  talk of this surprise?


Maria: The concept of an artificial womb is a good opportunity to start thinking. It is somehow shocking as an idea – at least for me it was shocking – but I suppose at some point in the future it could be possible. It would be the natural next step after the embryoskope where you see the blastocyst cells grow and the neonatal care units where parents can monitor their premies on the app at home. It could solve the problem of needing surrogates in the process. Anna Smajdor is perfectly right when she says that we have to start thinking in advance of changing technologies. Otherwise society will lack the possibility to build opinions, to make sure politics follow.

A biotechnician examines eggs in Future Baby

donna g: Babies are cute, but behind this I see a lot of money being made by others from fertility tourism. Do you think most people in the countries you visited are even aware of this?


Maria: The fertility industry (and I don't even want to mark industry as something generally bad) is a market place where you can make money if you are clever. But this cleverness always includes the need for women as egg cell donors and surrogates in economically harsh situations, and this kind of general taboo helps in keeping the fertility marketplace invisible. The storytelling of the industry is more about the altruistic, generous side of donors and the wish to help of surrogates.


donna g: It must have been very difficult to edit your film down to 90 minutes or so. Can you tell us about a scene that you had to cut, even though it broke your heart to do so?


Maria: I had Yuval Harari, an Israeli historian and Julian Savulescu, from Oxford a philosopher, talking about Transhumanism - how Transhumanism plays into the repro-tech business and how it will change our world as we know it. It was too much and going too far. It was hard for me to let go. So I will have to wait for my next opportunity to make a documentary film.


donna g: What does it mean to you, personally and/or professionally, to have your film screen at Hot Docs?


Maria: I am so looking forward to getting feed back from an international audience. -END-

All photos courtesy of Hot Docs

Hot Docs is ON! April 28 - May 8th

Coming soon: interviews and film reviews from Hot Docs 2016. In the meantime follow me on Instagram and twitter  @tmtmwithdonnag and Facebook The More the Merrier with donna g.
www.hotdocs.ca
Box Office: 416.637.5150
http://www.hotdocs.ca/p/passes-and-packages

Seven Siblings Theatre Tackles Steve Martin in a Bar

Director, Erika Downie
courtesy of www.sevensiblingstheatre.ca 

Seven Siblings Theatre presents
Picasso at the Lapin Agile
By Steve Martin
Directed by Erika Downie

DESCRIPTION: " Sparks fly as Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein debate the meaning of the universe and its inescapable ties with art in this surreal comedy." -SST

donna g: Steve Martin is not a name that readily comes to mind when the average person thinks of playwrights. How did you discover "Picasso at the Lapin Agile"?

ERIKA DOWNIE: Steve Martin’s plays found me. I was at my university bookstore picking up textbooks and it stood out as something I needed to read. As “fate” has it Martin’s works also found their way into the hands of Will King, the artistic director and co-founder of Seven Siblings, and Madryn McCabe, the third co-founder and marketing and publicity manager of the company.  When I moved to Toronto last summer it was the first play the three of us decided to put into our 2016 season because we loved the rhythm of the comedy, the fantastic relationships between all the characters and the atmosphere of a 1904 Paris café.

donna g: What is it about the play that appealed to the company?

ERIKA: The imagined scenario between Picasso and Einstein and the surrounding characters and the interactions between everyone was the biggest appeal.  Our company is defined by putting on works that are based in the realm of the fantastic, a heightened world, situation or moment. Picasso has these beautifully crafted fantastic relationships that was supported by Martin’s comedic skills and all of us just fell in love with the script as a whole.   

donna g: The major names in the play are, obviously Picasso, but there is also Albert Einstein. Did you do any research into the backgrounds of each man, or did you base everything on what Martin presented?

ERIKA: With every play I do research and with Picasso at the Lapin Agile my research was more focused on the artistic movement of Picasso and the scientific writings of Einstein and how these men shaped science and art, as we know them today. I also did a lot of research on the other characters of the show discovering that each character did have some tie into the lives of Picasso and Einstein, which just made this play richer. This is just the beginning of my process, it’s in marrying the play to the research where the challenges, but also the magic, happens.

donna g: Setting the show in an actual bar is wonderful idea. Was this something that Seven Siblings wanted to do all along? How did you manage to get Round Venue to buy into your project?

ERIKA: We absolutely wanted to set Picasso in a bar from the get-go. It was important to us because of how we wanted to treat the audience in within the play, as another character. We did a lot of hunting for the right venue, and it was a wonderful find on Will’s part.  He did all the legwork to seek out the best venue for our production. Approaching Round Venue and discussing what we wished to do in their space was a great experience.  The programming at Round is unique and community based so when we approached them with the idea of Picasso taking place within their space and how we wanted to involve the Kensington Market community they hopped on board. 

donna g: I'm always interested in how characters are dressed. This is a period piece set at the turn of the Twentieth Century. Could you please talk about the process of finding the right look for the characters, especially for Erin Burley who plays three different characters, and for Andrew Gaunce, who plays the very comical, Schmendiman?

ERIKA: Schemendiman was fun to costume; Kate McArthur our production manager did a lovely job with accenting the buffoonish qualities of Schmendiman. We discussed that he needed to stand out in the most outrageous way and that required breaking the blues and neutrals of Einstein and Picasso and really making him pop out of the picture.  Erin’s costumes were based in the blue and green palate of the colour spectrum because her characters where meant to represent Picasso’s blue phase. I commend Kate because if we didn’t have access to a specific costume she would build it out of materials that were lying around her house. With all of the costumes on the show Kate and I sat down and discussed the most important quality being the silhouette of the period rather than the full out period costume.  She took that idea and made in to what you see on stage today, and I couldn’t be happier. -END-

Erika Downie is a founding member and company manager of Seven Siblings Theatre. She holds a BA and BFA in Acting and is a certified educator in the Michael Chekhov Technique.

Dylan Evans and Will King

promo photo courtesy of Seven Siblings Theatre

Picasso at the Lapin Agile

Featuring Dylan Mawson, Jamie Johnson, Madryn McCabe, Will King, Erin Burley, Erik Helle, Dylan Evans, Andrew Gaunce and Maxwell LeBoeuf

Stage Manager Jocelyn Levadoux

Production Manager Kate MacArthur

Lighting Designer Parker Nowlan

Dialect Coach Margaret Hilda
Front of House: Gwendolyn Hodgson

Performances and Ticket Information

February 18 at 7:30pm (Preview)

February 19 at 7:30pm (Opening Night)

February 20 at 7:30pm

February 21 at 7:30pm

February 25 at 7:30pm

February 26 at 7:30pm

February 27 at 2:00pm (Matinee)

February 28 at 7:30pm

Preview $15

February 18-21 $20, February 25-28 $25

Venue:

Round, 152A Augusta Avenue, Kensington Market, Toronto, Ontario

Tickets: http://www.sevensiblingstheatre.ca/picassoatthelapinagile/

Precisely Peter Production of Alan Bennett's Talking Heads Dark And Hilarious

Thank you John Shooter for leaving England and coming to Canada, or to be more precise Toronto. Because of your desire to create theatre in your new city, I have been delighted to attend plays by Mike Leigh (Abigail's Party) and Alan Bennett (Talking Heads).

Shooter is back with Talking Heads 2 and as the program notes state: "Step into the lives of six ordinary people, each concealing a far from ordinary secret!"

The 6 monologues have been divided into Part A and Part B. If you are able, I recommend  you see both parts.  At $25 per evening, $50 is all you will pay to see very talented Canadian and English actors performing the brilliantly witty, darkly-edged dialogue of Britain's preeminent author, playwright, and actor Alan Bennett (The Uncommon Reader, The History Boys, The Madness of King George).

I saw Part A last year, and recently took in Part B. The major contrast between the two parts is the difference in tone. The monologues in Part A are more dramatic, although, Bennett never lets the scenes get too heavy, using the catharsis of humour to direct us through each piece; the segments in Part B are more overtly humourous, but at their core, they are no less emblematic of life's challenges than his monologues in Part A.

Bennett's characters are everyday, relatable  people, and these monologues directed by John Shooter are expertly delivered by an outstanding cast. The scenes are presented in various rooms of Toronto's historic Campbell House, which gives each performance an intimate, voyeuristic feel, whether the character's experiences take place in a home, park, antique shop or church. Shooter's blocking moves the characters in such a way that the audience cannot escape the connection by proximity nor Bennett's quotidian soliloquises so perfectly rendered by each actor .

PROGRAM "A"
The Outside Dog in which Marjory, wonderfully captured by Naomi Wright shares her anxiety about a serial killer. Playing Sandwiches in which Jason Gray infuses his handyman character of Wilfred with both pathos and repulsion. A Lady of Letters in which Alex Dallas convincingly brings to life Irene, the neighbourhood busybody, who thinks her poisoned letters are for the good of society.

Remaining Performances
Evenings, 18, 20, 21
Door opens 7:30 pm; show begins 8 pm

Matinees, November 14
Door opens 2:30 pm; show begins 3 pm

PROGRAM "B"
The Hand of God in which Deb Filler artfully presents her antique shop owner character of Celia as a woman who is completely oblivious to her own middle class snobbery and greed. Shakespearean actor, Richard Willis deftly brings the right touch of empathetic neuroses to Mama's boy Graham in A Chip in the Sugar. Fiona Reid's matter-of-fact delivery is heartbreakingly humorous in Bed Among the Lentils in which Susan, a vicar's wife, struggles with her Godlike husband and her increasing lack of faith in Him and him.

Remaining Performances
Evenings, November 13, 14, 17, 19
Door opens 7:30 pm; show begins 8 pm

Matinees, November 21, 22
Door opens 2:30 pm; show begins 3 pm

Tickets: $25 (general admission)
http: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2396024
TALKING HEADS
Precisely Peter Production
Directed by John Shooter
Sound design by Evan Jerred
Set and costume designs by Rachel Forbes
Lighting design by Siobhan Sleath
Stage management by Laura Lakatosh
Production management by Christopher Douglas

Campbell House Museum*
160 Queen St. West, Toronto

* Please note that there will be no late admittance. Campbell House is not wheelchair accessible, patrons will be required to climb stairs.

Writer Spotlight: Julia Hart on her script for The Keeping Room

photo courtesy of Films We Like

I missed "The Keeping Room" when it was an official selection of The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) last year, so was happy that the film was recently released and is presently screening at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. The film tells the story of three women (two white sisters and their black slave) defending themselves against rogue soldiers at the tale end of the American Civil War. I love westerns and was intrigued by the female perspective of this film, especially since it brought back memories of my university days writing papers about women in the US south during this time period. When the opportunity arose for a quick interview with screenwriter, Julia Hart, how could I resist?

donna g:  Could you please tell me more about your script being selected for the Black List in 2012? This is not an area that the average film-goer is familiar with.

JULIA HART: A bunch of people in our industry - executives, producers etc... are asked to vote for their favourite unproduced screenplays each year and the scripts with the most votes end up on the Blacklist. The Blacklist is a wonderful organization and warm and inviting community of which I am truly honored to be a part. All the writers are just very supportive of each other's work and films and Franklin Leonard and Scott Myers are just the best.

Julia Hart at TIFF '14

donna g: "The Keeping Room" premiered at TIFF '14. That's an awfully quick turnaround from screenplay to film festival screen. You must have felt as if you were caught up in a whirlwind!

Julia H: I definitely did. I was teaching high school English when I wrote the script. I wrote it over my summer break and then it started going out to agents in October of that year and by June we had a director and a cast and I had quit my job. And now I'm writing full time, I directed my first feature and I have a baby. It's been quite a trip! 

donna g: Female-centred scripts with women as heroines are rare enough, but you've written one that's as rare as hen's teeth. Audiences are used to Scarlett O'Hara's Georgia, not your version that features two starving white women and their slave staving off "bummers". What triggered the writing of the script?

Brit Marling (forefront),
Muna Otaru, Hailee Steinfield (rear)
photo courtesy of Films We Like

Julia H: I was sick of exactly what you say -- I wanted to see real women instead of damsels in distress and I think we're starting to see that other people want that too. There's definitely a shift happening in terms of the types of films that are getting made and the way that women are portrayed on screen and I'm just excited to be a part of it. 

donna g: In the film there is a line "we're all niggers now" . Given our era of political correctness, did you ever consider revising that line or were you ever pressured to rethink the line?

Julia H: I think political correctness is an enemy to art. I think we have to ask ourselves is the character racist or is the artist? And if it's the character then it is an artistic depiction of a type of person from a certain place at a certain time. I think it's important to show racism and sexism in our art in order to expose it. That line is Augusta just completely misunderstanding her place in the world and the circumstances under which she's in. She thinks that her life is like Mad's life now, but it's not in the least and she learns that by the end of the film.

photo courtesy of Films We Like

donna g: These three women have had to redefine the social structure they were all raised with. Your script does an excellent job of showing us this new social order. One of the scenes that brings this home for me is the one in which Augusta, a white woman and Mad, her slave, share a drink and talk as equals. Was this part of your original screenplay or was it added during the film stage?

Julia H: That scene was in the very first draft of the script. I was actually inspired to write the film while sitting in a keeping room on a farm in Georgia drinking moonshine with some friends so that scene was one of the first scenes I found when I started writing the script. It was actually cut down quite a bit by the director -- there was a lot more of that scene that we shot that I love and miss when I watch the film. That scene is in many ways the heart of what I was trying to say about these women and I'm so glad it spoke to you.  

donna g: Will you be writing any more Westerns? There are so many untold stories about women and the American frontier.

Julia H: I couldn't agree more! I actually happen to be writing one right now. I also happen to find a way to turn a lot of what I write into a western even if it's not technically a western. There is something so potent and connected for me about coming into your own as a woman (no matter where or when you are) and the myth of the American West and Manifest Destiny. 

donna g: Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions and for sharing your thoughts.

Julia H: Of course! Thank you for supporting the film. 


THE KEEPING ROOM
Directed by Daniel Barber
Written by Julia Hart


Principal Cast
Brit Marling as Augusta
Hailee Steinfield as Louise
Muna Otaru as Mad


For showtimes at TIFF Bell Lightbox
www.tiff.net
416.599.TIFF (8433)

From Weekly Radio to Online Coverage!

With JACK director/writer, Elizabeth Scharang at TIFF15

Hey, tmtm fans! I am on hiatus for the next couple of weeks, as I move from connecting with you on a weekly basis at CIUT 89.5 FM, to sharing arts-at-large coverage via social media. Until then, please make sure to follow me via

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TIFF15 Review: A Patch of Fog





Conleth Hill (left) & Stephen Graham, "A Patch of Fog"



I don't watch Game of Thrones nor Boardwalk Empire so walking into "A Patch of Fog", I didnt' have any pre-conceived notions of what to expect from Conleth Hill and Stephen Graham. Hill stars as Sandy Duffy, an author famous for a seminal work that's celebrating it's twentieth anniversary. Duffy is also a creative writing professor, a regular contributor to an arts television show and a shoplifter. Unfortunately for Duffy, he gets captured in the act by security guard, Robert (Stephen Graham), who blackmails Duffy into a one-sided friendship.

The tension between Duffy and Robert is skillfully maintained by director, Michael Lennox, who knows when to go for the close up and when to pull away and let the action unfold. The script by John Cairns and Michael McCartney is smart, well-crafted, and delivered with credibility by the two leads. Watching the successful Duffy, who is so imposing and opinionated in his own world of television and academia, reduced to beseeching and bargaining with the quiet, non-descript Robert is a fascinating voyage that is at once uncomfortable and relatable. Who can't empathize with someone who has a secret that, if revealed, could blow their world apart if uploaded on social media? Conversely, Robert is indeed lonely in his box of a room at work and in his modest apartment; and while Duffy has friends and fans, Robert has no one except his pet snake. The contrast and emotional sparring between the two men is further emphasized by the stature of the actors with Hill being the wide-shouldered heavyweight and Graham the quick-stepping bantam.

I had a ball watching this cat and mouse story unfold, and by the rare sound of applause at the end of my the Press and Industry screening, I was not alone in my appreciation of A Patch of Fog.

A PATCH OF FOG
Final Screening
Saturday, September 19
9:00 AM, Scotiabank Theatre (Richmond and John)

Details/Buy Tickets: http://tiff.net/festivals/festival15/discovery/a-patch-of-fog