or


[01/17/24 - 09:32 AM]
FX's "Spermworld" - Feature Documentary on the Unregulated Online Marketplace for Sperm Premieres Friday, March 29
The film is a road movie set inside the new wild west of baby making - online forums where sperm donors connect with hopeful parents.

[via press release from FX]

FX's SPERMWORLD

Feature Documentary on the Unregulated Online Marketplace for Sperm Premieres Friday, March 29

Directed by Lance Oppenheim

Produced by The New York Times and Edgeline Films

LOS ANGELES, January 17, 2024 - FX's SPERMWORLD, a documentary feature directed by Lance Oppenheim, produced by The New York Times and Edgeline Films, and inspired by the Times' article "The Sperm Kings Have a Problem: Too Much Demand" by Nellie Bowles, will premiere on Friday, March 29 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on FX and stream the next day on Hulu.

SPERMWORLD is a road movie set inside the new wild west of baby making - online forums where sperm donors connect with hopeful parents. Against the landscape of roadside motels, abandoned shopping malls and suburban bathrooms across the country, the film follows intimate encounters between donors and recipients as they exchange more than just genetic material. SPERMWORLD examines how our fantasies about partnership and parenthood shape our deepest desires. What emerges in this new feature-length documentary directed by Lance Oppenheim is an incisive portrait of the search for human connection in an increasingly alienating world.

Kathleen Lingo of The New York Times serves as executive producer alongside Elyse Steinberg, Josh Kriegman and Eli Despres for Edgeline Films. Lauren Belfer is producing. Oppenheim continues his collaboration with director of photography David Bolen, editor Daniel Garber, co-producer Christian Vazquez, and composer Ari Balouzian. It is his first collaboration with producer Lauren Belfer, a key creative force behind Venice-winning Thank You Very Much and Martin Scorsese's Rolling Thunder Revue.

"In 2020, I received an email from journalist Nellie Bowles containing her ideas for a story about the online, unregulated sperm universe," said Oppenheim. "As I read her notes, I started seeing her words in images. The tone of a movie began to emerge - strangers meeting to produce life in lonely places: strip malls at night, empty parking lots. I wanted to make a film that touched on modern loneliness and the quest to solve that feeling through the Internet, altruism and reproduction. I'm thrilled to have realized this portrait with partners as bold and supportive as FX, Edgeline Films and The New York Times."

"Sperm donation is one of the latest industries to be disrupted by the internet," said Lingo, the Editorial Director of Film and Television at The New York Times and the film's executive producer. "This new online marketplace for sperm raises questions from the risks involved in sourcing from unknown donors to the very definition of family itself. This film deftly explores all of this and more through Oppenheim's humane cinematic lens."

Lance Oppenheim is a filmmaker known for blending nonfiction storytelling with heightened, cinematic formalism and flourishes of the surreal. His first feature, Some Kind of Heaven, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was released by Magnolia Pictures and Hulu in 2021 to critical acclaim. His second feature, SPERMWORLD, and first television series, Ren Faire, will premiere on FX and HBO respectively in 2024.

SPERMWORLD is the second collaboration between FX and The New York Times, following the success of their investigative journalism docuseries The New York Times Presents (formerly The Weekly), now presenting its third series of documentary features. It is also the third documentary feature from FX, following AKA Jane Roe, director Nick Sweeney's portrait of Norma McCorvey, the "Jane Roe" whose unwanted pregnancy led to the 1973 case that legalized abortion nationwide, Roe v. Wade, and Hysterical, the feature documentary from director Andrea Nevins that journeys backstage and on the road with veteran comedians, rising stars and novices to discover how an intrepid group of boundary-breaking females are changing the game and exploring what it takes to become the voices of their generation and their gender.

About FX

FX, a division of Disney Entertainment, is a global multiplatform brand that develops, produces, commissions and markets original programming for Hulu and the FX and FXX linear channels in the U.S., and Star+ in Latin America and Disney+ in all other international territories. The FX brand mark appears above the title across its entire slate of originals. Over the past two decades, FX has been responsible for some the most-critically acclaimed and award-winning shows on television. Some of the brand's current and legacy titles include the dramas American Horror Story, American Crime Story, The Americans, Damages, Fargo, Justified, Nip/Tuck, The Old Man, The Patient, Pose, Rescue Me, The Shield, Snowfall and Sons of Anarchy; the comedies Archer, Atlanta, The Bear, Better Things, DAVE, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Reservation Dogs and What We Do in the Shadows; and a growing slate of docuseries and documentary films including The New York Times Presents, Welcome to Wrexham and Dear Mama.

About The New York Times

The New York Times is a trusted source of quality, independent journalism whose mission is to seek the truth and help people understand the world. The Times is now extending its mission by producing nonfiction television and film. They have premiered five nonfiction television series: Diagnosis (Netflix); four-time News and Documentary Emmy(R) Award-winning The Weekly (FX/Hulu); The New York Times Presents (FX/Hulu), which featured the Primetime Emmy-nominated documentary, "Framing Britney Spears," that helped launch a national conversation; the Emmy-nominated six-part series Empire of Influence: The Murdochs (CNN); and, most recently, the Emmy Award-winning series The 1619 Project (Hulu). The Times has also produced four feature documentaries: Time (Amazon), which was nominated for an Academy Award(R) for Best Documentary Feature in 2021, Some Kind of Heaven (Magnolia Pictures), 2021 Emmy Award-winner Father Soldier Son (Netflix), and Sorry/Not Sorry, which recently premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and will be in theaters in 2024. How We Get Free, which played at Aspen ShortsFest, San Francisco Film Fest, Hot Docs, Palm Springs ShortsFest, DOC NYC and more, premiered on HBO in fall of 2023.

About Edgeline Films

Helmed by Elyse Steinberg, Josh Kriegman and Eli Despres, Edgeline Films is a boutique documentary production company focusing on prestige film and television. Their TCA-award winning docuseries Couples Therapy - now in its fourth season for Showtime - has been heralded by critics "... as rich a snapshot of human behavior as you are going to find" and has been featured on over a dozen critics' top 10 lists. Their feature films include The Fight, winner of the 2020 Sundance Jury Prize for Social Impact Filmmaking, and Weiner, winner of the 2016 Sundance Grand Jury Prize and short-listed for the Academy Award(R). Edgeline has several exciting new projects in development and production with major networks and streamers, including an upcoming HBO documentary series following Jerrod Carmichael.





  [january 2024]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
 


· SHOWATCH
(series past and present)
· DEVWATCH
(series in development)
· MOVIEWATCH
(tv movies and mini-series)





[11/21/24 - 11:00 AM]
HBO Renews Original Late-Night Comedy Series "It's Florida, Man." for a Second Season
The season one finale debuts Friday, November 22 and the first season is available to stream on Max.

[11/21/24 - 10:32 AM]
Taylor Sheridan's "Landman" Explodes with Over 5M Global Viewers Across Paramount+ and Linear Preview
The series also secured the #1 spot for a U.S. premiere in Paramount+ history within its first three days.

[11/21/24 - 10:31 AM]
Video: "Ronny Chieng: Love to Hate It" - Sneak Peek - Netflix
Filmed over a five-night sold-out run in Honolulu at the historic Hawai'i Theatre, this extremely personal special hilariously unpacks the indignities of the IVF process, the pitfalls of being a man on the internet, American politics and the place of the older generation in today's world.

[11/21/24 - 10:04 AM]
"CMA Country Christmas" Returns Tuesday, Dec. 3, at 8/7c an ABC and Next Day on Hulu and Disney+
Filmed in Nashville in front of a live audience, the festive special showcases one-of-a-kind musical performances of Christmas classics from Country Music's biggest stars.

[11/21/24 - 10:01 AM]
Netflix Brings "Squid Game" to Los Angeles with Immersive Fan Event & US Premiere Set for December 12th, 2024
The interactive event, which will give fans a chance to compete for their seat at an exclusive advance screening, will feature director Hwang Dong-hyuk, Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, and more cast members from Season 2.

[11/21/24 - 10:00 AM]
HBO Documentary Films' "Nature of the Crime" Debuts December 10
Over a period of four years, filmmakers Ricki Stern and Jesse Sweet follow Todd Scott and Chad Campbell: two men involved in violent crimes as teenagers who have since served more than 30 years of their sentences and have each been eligible for parole for more than a decade.

[11/21/24 - 09:39 AM]
TLC's "7 Little Johnstons" Returns for a New Season January 7th at 9/8c
The Johnstons are back! Liz and Brice's baby girl, Leighton, has arrived home safely from the hospital, and the lively Johnston family quickly realizes that life gets even more interesting with a newborn in the mix.

[11/21/24 - 09:30 AM]
Video: Starz Announces January 17 Premiere Date and Releases Trailer and Key Art for Steamy Seductive Thriller "The Couple Next Door"
The series, starring Sam Heughan, Eleanor Tomlinson, Jessica De Gouw and Alfred Enoch will be available to stream weekly on Fridays on the Starz app, all Starz streaming and on-demand platforms.

[11/21/24 - 09:08 AM]
Food Network's After-Hours Culinary Poker Game "Wildcard Kitchen" Raises the Stakes with Brand-New Season of All-Star Battles
In the season premiere on Tuesday, January 7, Vegas big spenders Jet Tila and siblings Michael and Bryan Voltaggio up the ante by bringing double the cash to the table, while serving up delectable dishes and lots of trash talk to determine who will be crowned king of the high-stakes kitchen.

[11/21/24 - 09:01 AM]
Video: "The Dragon Prince" Season 7 Trailer - Netflix After School
The epic saga concludes on December 19, only on Netflix.

[11/21/24 - 08:38 AM]
Video: WE tv Reveals Sneak Peek of "Toya & Reginae" Returning This January
The stakes are higher and the drama deeper for Toya Johnson Rushing and daughter, Reginae Carter, this season as the duo continue to juggle life, love, family, and their ever-growing careers in the spotlight... from different coasts.

[11/21/24 - 08:35 AM]
Video: Peacock Releases Official Trailer for Twisted Romantic Comedy Series "Laid"
A woman finds out her former lovers are dying in unusual ways and must go back through her sex timeline to confront her past in order to move forward.

[11/21/24 - 08:03 AM]
FOX Entertainment and Hulu Announce New Multi-Year Content Partnership Deal
Today's announcement renews the major program output deal between the two companies, as well as an agreement that allows Hulu to stream out-of-season episodes of key FOX unscripted programs.

[11/21/24 - 08:01 AM]
Max Original Drama Series "The Pitt" Debuts This January
The series is a realistic examination of the challenges facing healthcare workers in today's America as seen through the lens of the frontline heroes working in a modern-day hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

[11/21/24 - 08:01 AM]
Video: "Black Doves" - Official Trailer #2 - Netflix
When a spy posing as a politician's wife learns her lover has been murdered, an old assassin friend joins her on a quest for truth - and vengeance.