Donor Unknown

It’s the ultimate unintended sociological experiment: the California Cryobank ships sperm to women all across the US, who bear children. These disconnected semi-siblings grow up, get in touch with one another and begin searching for their donor dad. Who, it turns out, is no longer the buff actor-musician-model-philosopher he sold himself as, but a pot-addled conspiracy theorist living with four dogs and a wounded pigeon in a motorhome on Venice Beach, Los Angeles.

British documentarian Jerry Rothwell’s focus remains squarely on the emotional and psychological aspects of his story, rather than the cold statistics of sperm donation: this is a tale of kids looking for meaning and companionship, finding it in each other and a befuddled hippy with a heart of gold. It’s a film of great characters, each of whom is treated with integrity and respect: Jeffrey Harrison, aka Donor 150, is like a real-life Jeff Lebowski, only stranger and more tragic. The result is surprising, amusing and oddly melancholic: a genuine human drama.