France
Language: French/English
Runtime: 55:19
Category: Love
Screen Date: April 2015
his is the extraordinary story of a gay couple using a surrogate mother to create a family. Despite it is forbidden and highly controversial in France, Christophe and Bruno accepted to be filmed during the whole adventure of surrogacy, during more than a year. From the meeting with the surrogate to the birth. More than a year of comings and goings between Paris and Portland ( Oregon, an american state that allows surrogacy ), a clandestine and a very risky way to create a family, raising many issues... For sure, surrogacy, and especially for a gay couple, is stirring a major public debate.
Director: Florence Helleux and Smaïn Belhadj
Florence is a 30-year-old
journalist and Smaïn is a 28-year-old editor. They are freelance and
work for the French television, for different magazine broadcasts. Their
documentary represents a work of more than one and a half year. "Too
long and too expensive for television" said every producer to Florence
and Smaïn. But the two filmmakers were convinced that filming this story
was worth it. They started working for free, borrowing cameras and
microphones from many friends. Finally, six months after the beginning
of the filming, one broadcast of the French public television France 2 ,
"13h15", believed in their project and produced the film.
Director’s Statement
The surrogate mother of this
documentary lives in McMinnville, Oregon. Surrogacy is illegal in
France, for all. Despite this, many straight and gay french couples are
going to Portland, Oregon, where surrogacy agencies and clinics can help
them to create a family.
