Married couple Lilith (Megan Fahlenbock) and Athena (Angela Vint) are both pregnant with each other’s children via sperm created through the women’s stem cells. Director Alison Reid extensively investigated the real-life embryonic stem-cell research that inspired the premise, though for the purposes of the film “we assumed the science is further along than it is.” The emotional sucker-punch of the film is its portrayal of the couple’s hopes and fears for their babies and weathering the storm of reaction from their families about the news of their unique conception. The assured tone of the film doesn’t betray the usual low-budget headaches. “It was very scrambley,” Reid says of the shoot, “but at the same time, it was a labour of love. Everyone knew what we were up against and they were all on board with it.”
This article appears in Aug 20-26, 2009.
