Media Parents

Ahead of tonight’s TX of the Vikings are Coming, esteemed documentary filmmaker Sue Bourne explains to Media Parents where the idea came from. “A director friend of mine and her partner had used danish donor sperm and that was how I first heard about it. I was amazed to discover that after beer, bacon and lego Denmark’s biggest export was sperm. Also that you could go onto the internet, browse hundreds of donors, choose your sperm, pay for it by credit card and get it delivered to your kitchen table for self insemination. That to me was remarkable. Also the fact that the biggest clientele group are now single women. Women in their thirties and forties who desperately want a baby but dont have a man. So they are, in increasing numbers using danish donor sperm to create the family they want. Have the baby first, then find the man. It really is a Brave New World.. and a fantastic subject for a documentary.”

Documentary filmmaker Sue Bourne PDed The Vikings are Coming. She can be contacted through the Networking section of www.mediaparents.co.uk

“THE VIKINGS ARE COMING is quite different from my usual films.  It was certainly one of the toughest films I have made because we were following four unfolding narratives about women trying to get pregnant using Danish Donor sperm. That is a lot of unfolding narratives if you don’t self shoot!!  It took us ages and ages also to find the women who were willing to take part in the film.

There are a lot women doing this – and growing numbers of single women – but they are wary of the press because they know there could be condemnation of the decision to have a baby on your own using donor sperm. But we got there in the end and we have some really remarkable, brave women in the film … if the film is any good its because of them.. their stories, their bravery and their quite remarkable honesty.”

It was a long long hard journey and I think/ hope the film shows just what a tough decision it is to go it alone.. and also how very very hard it is to get pregnant. I dont think any of us were really prepared for that! There is a 75 % failure rate in fertility treatment.. hard enough to go through that with a partner. Unimaginably tough to do it all alone!  I see the film as a talking point.. something that will open up the debate.. For me it opened the door into a fascinating world I didn’t know existed.. I think people will be astonished at the story we have to tell.

PD Sue Bourne. http://www.mediaparents.co.uk/collaborator/10222/sue-bourne

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