Breeding Cells

Alternative title: Schwangere Zellen
Synopsis: Filmed in the ward of reproductional medicine at Charite Hospital in Berlin, this video looks at the procedures involved in a fertility clinic through an experimental anthropological gaze. Concerned with the way in which the highly technical process can marginalise the couples involved in fertility treatment, the film looks at the contradictions inherent in the way in which a highly controlled, regulated environment is presented as being there to assist nature. Closely describing the routines and moral concerns of the medical staff, the film portrays a transitional time, when biotechnological science fiction is becoming part of everyday life. This film was produced within a video-seminar of Christina von Braun, Kulturwissenschaftliches Seminar, Humboldt University, Berlin.
Language: German (Standard)
Country: Germany
Year of production: 2009
Subjects: Anthropology; Medical sciences
Keywords: artificial insemination; ethnography; fertility - human

Name: Royal Anthropological Institute
Contact: Susanne Hammacher (Film Officer)
Email: film@therai.org.uk
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Phone: 020 7387 0455
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Notes: The Institute sells more than 250 anthropology and ethnology titles on video and DVD, including some produced by students and staff of the Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology. There is also a large library of internationally produced film and video productions from which items may be borrowed within the UK.

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