Available June 19-July 2, 2020
Directed by Jeremy Hersh, U.S.A., 2020, 93 mins.
Contact:
Charles Coleman
Film Program Director
charles@facets.org
773.281.9075
Friday, June 19, 2020: Chicago – The Facets Virtual Cinema will screen the film The Surrogate (2020), from June 19 to July 2. The film is presented in English; was produced in the U.S.A.; and has a runtime of 93 minutes. Pre-orders are available now at www.facets.org/cinematheque/. 50% of all ticket purchases go to Facets in support of the organization during the closure.
Jess Harris (Jasmine Batchelor), a 29 year old web designer for a nonprofit in Brooklyn, is ecstatic to be the surrogate for her best friend Josh and his husband Aaron. Twelve weeks into the pregnancy, a prenatal test comes back with unexpected results that pose a moral dilemma. As they all consider the best course of action, the relationship between the three friends is put to a serious test, and there are inevitable changes as a result.
The Surrogate is about a relationship between queer people and their chosen family who are confronted with the same types of difficult questions (ethical and otherwise) that all potential parents have to answer, queries that are becoming increasingly complicated due to recent advances in prenatal testing technology. This film does not have the answers, but presents various points of view and awkward conversations that these questions provoke.
As the filmmaker Jeremy Hersh said: “I make movies partly as a way of investigating my own blind spots, in order to hopefully identify them and learn from them. Like so many among us, the characters in The Surrogate pride themselves on being open-minded progressives who talk openly and freely about everything. The conflict in the film arises when they’re finally confronted with something they don’t know how to talk about. Ultimately, the characters have to confront the gap between ideals and practical realities.”
The Playlist says “Hersh’s debut feature claims the prize as one of the most thought-provoking movies centered about parenting released in recent memory” while Indiewire notes that “the microbudget feature never wavers from lived-in believability.”
