what's safe, what's gross, what's selfish and what's stupid, 2024
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please contact JJ to screen this film
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OR BUY FILM HERE
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VIEW TRAILER
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Pleave leave reviews, it’s v important
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Credits
Director: JJ Johnson
Edit Consultant: Tilly Shiner
Composer: Vivienne Griffin
Drums: Zach Toppin
Sound Mix: Curtis Elvidge
Colour Grade: Becan Rickart-Elliot
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Cast
VivienneJennifer
Cal
Leo & Ellie
Siri
Julia
Rosanna & Marina
Nadine
Fabian & Rob
Edward
Divya
Billy
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PRAISE
Jay Bernard for BFI Flare: It takes a village to raise a child, but if you’re queer, it also takes a village to understand the process of creating one. Through sensitive and vital conversations, many from the perspective of those conceived by sperm donors, JJ navigates relationships, sperm banks, multiple queer communities and the national health service itself, in an attempt to do family and reproduction differently.Oreet Ashery: An invaluable and rich project interrogating how to become bio-reproductive in a queer way, even as a desire, and its logistical, emotional and philosophical implications.
Ed Webb-Ingall: I watched last night and was totally captivated. It’s a really impressive film, the intimacy and access remain generous but never sweet. It’s queerness runs through every element without feeling cliquey, exclusive or cliche - I hate to use either of these words but it feels brave and also made me feel proud to be part of the world you draw out and explore - such a beautiful and important document, a film so many people I know would benefit from seeing and being with.
Annette Kennerly: Hi - thank you for letting me watch your film! I love how personal and intimate it is. A lot of difficult emotions stirred up. I would love to talk about it with you in person.
Harold Offeh and Lina Džuverović: Here we have the artist JJ’s journey as filmed and captured on video camera. We see the clinical environments, the futile fertility, body positions; hips and legs elevated in a repeated motif. The film features an archiving and mapping of queer familial experiences. Through interviews we get multiple perspectives. A truly diverse range of individuals speak of their experiences of parenting and being parented. This duality of perspectives enriches the film and creates a critical questioning of familial structures that challenges assumptions. The feature length of the film requires a commitment and creates a critical attention that requires the viewer to sit with the many voices as the weight of the exclusionary heteropatriarchal structures impact on the queer subjects of the work.
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PRESS
Diva Magazine InterviewAttitude
Niamh Simpson for Daily Review
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RESOURCES
Queer Platonic CoparentingStonewall Fertility Equality Campaign
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SCREENINGS
BFI Flare, March 19th and 23rd 2024 (World Premiere)Modern Art Oxford, May 2nd 2024
Diffrakt, Berlin, May 17th 2024.
Losing The Plot Festival, Newcastle, June 2024.
Manchester LGBTQIA+ Film & TV Festival, August 2024.
It’s Complicated, Right? Rio Dalston, February 2025 (excerpt shown)
Roland Ross, Margate, TBC