Hot Docs, The Canadian International Documentary Festival, runs April 28-May 8. In our new series, we talk to the directors of the films you won’t want to miss. 

Will natural reproduction grow passé? Future Baby brings together visionaries and experts on both sides of the in vitro fertilization debate, exploring the controversial hand of science in the art of baby making. We spoke with director of Future Baby, Maria Arlamovsky.

SDTC: Why were you personally drawn to this subject?

MA: Nearly twenty years ago I was doing a film about a woman who decided to do a home birth, saying she was not sick just pregnant. She turned away from the so-called safety of medical-directed childbirth. Future Baby on the contrary is a look at the offerings of reproductive medicine at the beginning of the 21th century.

What did you learn about yourself over the course of making this film?

How important it is to me to be alert and open to new challenges.

What surprised you most about this subject?

That the urge to have children drives reproductive medicine to offer and to market choices that can be consumed easily if you have enough money. Choices that become less scrutinized the more it become a daily business. We get accustomed to the narratives that go with the processes.

Where do you think the future of in vitro fertilization is headed?

I think the marketplace for in vitro fertilization really starts when we ask young women to freeze their eggs to be “on the safe side.”

What do you want people to take away from this film?

I want them to be confused and open to rethink their assumptions. I want them to be stimulated and ready for discussion.

Future Baby screens April 30th at Scotiabank Theatre, May 2nd at TIFF Bell Lightbox and May 8th at Isabel Bader Theatre.