Making Perfect Babies

199250 min 50 secFilm: Documentary

Direction: Gwynne Basen

Production: Mary ArmstrongNicole HubertNicole BélangerGinny StikemanRina Fraticelli

Script: Erna Buffie

Co-produced by Cinéfort Inc., the NFB and the CBC with the financial assistance of Telefilm Canada.

Filmed in clinics and research centres where genetic manipulation of human embryos has already begun, Making Perfect Babies offers a critical examination of the new genetic technology and its potential applications. Through interviews with people like scientist and feminist, Ruth Hubbard, and disability activist Marsha Saxton, the film raises important questions about why the technology is being developed and how it may affect the lives of women and society as a whole. It warns that we may be heading toward a future in which quality control is an acceptable part of human procreation.

Subject categories


  • Health and Medicine > BioethicsGenetics
  • Technology > BiotechnologyTechnology and Society
  • Sexuality and Reproduction > Reproductive Technology
  • Women > Sexuality and Reproduction

Credits


director
Gwynne Basen
producer
Mary Armstrong
Nicole Hubert
Nicole Bélanger
executive producer
Mary Armstrong
Ginny Stikeman
Rina Fraticelli
script
Erna Buffie
photography
Marielle Nitoslawska
animation camera
Jacques Avoine
Raymond Dumas
Lynda Pelley
sound
Catherine Van Der Donckt
editing
Dominique Sicotte
sound editing
Jackie Newell
re-recording
Jean-Pierre Joutel
Shelley Craig
narrator
Kathleen Fee
music
Air Tango

Awards


  • ANZAAS/CSIRO Prize for Best Science Film - with a cash prize of 1,500$AUST (ex aequo with The Northern Lights)International Film Festival
  • Award of Merit - Category: DocumentaryItinerant - National Watch on Images of Women in Media (Mediawatch)
  • Honorable Mention - Category: Science and natureItinerant - American Film and Video Festival