Our Child

Director: Marina Belobrovaja
Cinematographer: Gabriela Betschart, Kaleo La Belle, Marina Belobrovaja, Sergei Freedman

Switzerland | 2021 | 82’ | In German with English subtitles | DCP | Colour

Nomination
New Voices in Documentary Cinema, Astra Film Festival Award 2021

Festivals
Solothurn Film Festival 2022
Visions du Réel 2021
Munich International Documentary Festival 2021

Compelled by the need to have a child, the director, Marina Belobrovaja, seeks out a sperm donor and has given birth to a daughter. This film follows her own life with her child and family back in Israel to probe the traditional concepts of nuclear family and parenthood. It also consists of encounters with sperm donors and other parents. Their dialogues are intelligent and emotional, resolute and sensitive. The authenticity of life unfolds beyond the normative structure of society. The more the story of Our Child develops, the more complex it becomes.
 
As Belobrovaja is also the protagonist, its cinematographer, Gabriela Betschart, played an important role in determining how scenes were laid out as she filmed the director, “Since the director herself is part of the story, it was important for me to recognise the authenticity of the moment in each case when she didn’t function as a director.”