''Baby God'' is an 2020 American documentary film, directed and produced by Hannah Olson, which follows Quincy Fortier, a doctor who used his own sperm to inseminate fertility patients.

Heidi Ewing Heidi Ewing is an American documentary filmmaker and the co-director of ''Jesus Camp'', '' The Boys of Baraka'', '' 12th & Delaware'', ''DETROPIA'', ''Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You'' (Sundance Film Festival), '' One of Us'' (Toronto ...

and

Rachel Grady Rachel () was a Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban. Her older sister was Leah, Jacob's first wife. Her aun ...

were executive producers under their Loki Films banner. It had its world premiere at the

Nantucket Film Festival The Nantucket Film Festival is a film festival founded in 1996 which focuses on screenwriting. Board members include Donick Cary, Nancy Dubac, Chris Matthews, Kathleen Matthews, Ben Stiller, and Tom Scott. History The Nantucket Film Festival ...

on June 23, 2020, and was released on December 2, 2020, by

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

Synopsis

Quincy Fortier, in a fertility fraud scheme begun in the 1960s, for more than 30 years secretly used his own sperm to inseminate his fertility patients, without their knowledge or consent. Decades later, his biological children discover Fortier is their father and search for answers.

Production

Olson discovered the story after hearing about a doctor using his own sperm to inseminate his fertility patients, and brought it to

and

who agreed to produce the film, and brought it to

HBO Documentary Films Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television, premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office busi ...

who agreed to produce and distribute. Olson felt the story was relevant in the context of

Me Too movement #MeToo is a social movement against sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and rape culture, in which people publicize their experiences of sexual abuse or sexual harassment. The phrase "Me Too" was initially used in this context on social media in ...

and felt it was time to reframe the US fertility industry to a public health concern.

Release

The film was set to have its world premiere at

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

in March 2020, however, the festival was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The film had its world premiere at the

on June 23, 2020. It also screened at DOC NYC on November 11, 2020. It was released on December 2, 2020.

Reception

Critical reception

''Baby God'' holds approval rating on the review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on reviews, with an average of . The site's critical consensus reads, "''Baby God'' is unavoidably nauseating as it unearths a heinous legacy, but Hannah Olson's sensitive study of the victims gives this documentary a worthwhile poignancy."

References

External links

* * {{HBO documentaries 2020 films 2020 documentary films American documentary films HBO documentary films 2020s English-language films 2020s American films English-language documentary films