Press Kit
The Secret Society
Rebecca Campbell
2021 | 89min 16 sec
Feature Documentary
English
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The Secret Society, the feature documentary about the secret, complex and criminalized world of egg donation in Canada
Selections and Awards
AMPIA Craft Nominations
Featured
The Secret Society
from Award-Winning Director Rebecca Campbell,
to have World Premiere at 2021 Whistler Film Festival
Synopsis (Short)
The Secret Society shines light on a hidden and unacknowledged women's health crisis. Complicating the already stressful and stigmatized world of infertility, women who are unable to conceive because their eggs are no longer viable are forced to take their medical needs into their own hands only to discover that Canadian law criminalizes payment to anyone who wants to use an egg donor. These laws perpetuate the secrecy surrounding egg donation and create a bizarrely complex world of assisted reproduction in this country.
Synopsis (Long)
The Secret Society shines light on a hidden and unacknowledged women's health crisis. Complicating the already stressful and stigmatized world of infertility, women who are unable to conceive because their eggs are no longer viable are forced to take their medical needs into their own hands only to discover that Canadian law criminalizes payment to anyone who wants to use an egg donor. These laws perpetuate the secrecy surrounding egg donation and create a bizarrely complex world of assisted reproduction in this country.
We meet Katie, an egg donor who, after donating six times, opens Canada’s first agency that requires future babies to know who their donors are and introduces us to the commercialized world of ‘fertility fairs’; Shannon and Sean who experimented with the idea of pursuing a donor illegally for money, but found a legal loophole in Canadian law that comes with a hefty price tag; Brittany and Tanner who avoid Canadian laws and expensive treatments by going to another country to pay for an egg donor, but the donor must remain anonymous by law; and finally Holly and Paul who find a donor in Canada through a secret Facebook group.
Experts give context to the complex medical, legal and ethical fields of egg donation, while politicians discuss efforts to change the criminalization of paying egg donors through reform to the Assisted Reproduction laws.
Excerpts
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Images
Promotional Materials
Team
Rebecca Campbell
Rebecca Campbell is an alumna of ‘Top 25’ – Banff World Media Festival/CMF’s ‘Diversity of Voices,’ NSI, Shaw Rocket Fund Fellowship, Whistler Film Festival Digital Lab, and is currently a Banff Spark participant. She wrote and directed The Secret Society, her first feature documentary about the hidden world of egg donation. Her directing highlights include broadcast documentaries Postcards from Vancouver Island, involving blindness and travel; and A Taste of the Prairies, involving blindness and cooking. She directed short the doc OVA, which won an ‘Edmonton Film Prize,’ and Kanada Girl. Campbell has created content for children: Squeaks & Cheeks, for which she won an AMPIA ‘Rosie’ Award; and The Girl Who Talks to the Moon for CBC Kids. She produced Last of the Fur Traders for AMI-tv/TELUS which won an AMPIA ‘Rosie’ Award, and numerous short documentaries found on AMI-tv, CBC Digital, CBC Gem, and TELUS TV. She currently sits on the board for FAVA.
Bonnie Thompson
Bonnie Thompson is a Canadian veteran film producer. For three decades, she worked with the National Film Board, collaborating with film/media makers and producers on documentary, animation, and interactive projects. She now produces independently with her company, Dreaming Bird Productions. Her work, screened nationally and internationally at festivals and on big and small screens, has been awarded multiple prestigious awards, including: the feature doc Radiant City winner of 2006 Genie Award for Best Documentary; the animated short Wildlife nominated for a 2012 Academy Award; the feature doc Angry Inuk won the 2016 Hot Docs Audience Award, Best Documentary Award at ImagiNative, TIFF People's Choice Award; the PBS NOVA doc Transplanting Hope was nominated for an Emmy; the feature docs Two Worlds Colliding, winner of the 2003 Gemini Award for Best Documentary and nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up, Opening Night film at Hot Docs 2019, and winner of Hot Docs Best Canadian Documentary, 2020 CSA Best Feature Length Documentary. Thompson's work always has a strong social issue component and pushes boundaries in both form and content. She was recognized by the AMPIA in 2018 with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Frederick Kroetsch
Frederick is an ardent documentary director, producer, and cinematographer. He is director of photography on the recent feature documentary The Secret Society, about the hidden world of human egg donation. He made Last of the Fur Traders, a documentary for AMI-tv following the adventures of his 85-year-old father in the arctic. He created the TV-series Queen of the Oil Patch for APTN, winning him an Alberta Rosie Award for screenwriting, and he is currently directing the TV show Dr. Savanna Wild Rose Vet for APTN/Cottage Life. Frederick graduated with a film production degree from Concordia University; was awarded a Top 40 Under 40 Award in his home city of Edmonton; and won a Hot Docs Short Film Pitch. He is an alumnus of The Werner Herzog Rogue Film School, The NSI Business for Producers Program, Whistler Doc Lab, and the TELUS Fellowship Program. Frederick has directed and produced dozens of projects for TELUS Originals, CBC, Bravo, NFB, CTV, APTN and Shaw – many of which he filmed himself. He spent a month in Iqaluit as director of photography on Anaana’s Tent, a ground-breaking kids series airing on Canada’s first Inuit language
television station.
Frederick is currently in development with NBC Universal on a television series.
Credits
Written and Directed by
Rebecca Campbell
Produced by
Frederick Kroetsch
Bonnie Thompson
Produced with participation of the
Produced with support of
Executive in charge of production
Blair Miller
Kim Hsu Guise
Executive Producer
Lizzy Karp
Supervising Producer
Christina Willings
Produced with the Assistance of the
Editor
Brenda Terning
Director of Photography
Frederick Kroetsch
Story Consultant
Bonnie Thompson
Sound Design
Johnny Blerot
Original Music composed by
John McMillan
Location Sound
Phil Dransfeld
Nelson Klymochko
Frederick Kroetsch
Frederic Edwards
Amanda Wong
Gilles Mailllet
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Additional Camera
aAron Munson
Shaun Henning
Sergio Oliveres
Barry Cheong
Christina Ienna
Ian Lister
David Baron
Lisa Frykland
Neal Williams
Alex Spence
Additional Editing
Sarah Taylor
Art Design
Cristoval Castillon
Production Supervisor
Sandra Tober
Production Managers
Bonnie Thompson
Rebecca Campbell
Production Assistant
Kristen Lambie
Online Editing
Jason Ludwig
Legal
Gregory Pang
Bookkeeping
Anita van Dorp
Accountant
Rick Minhas
Insurance
Front Row Insurance
Publicity
Cynthia Amsden
Strategic Marketing
Annelise Larson
Additional Graphic Design
Molly McKeen
Transcriptions
Sharon Murphy
Thank you for sharing your stories:
Katelyn
Victoria and Spencer
Shannon and Shawn
Brittany and Tanner
Holly and Paul
Lisa
Donna and Rodger
Ellen
Thank you for your support:
Dr. Stephen Hudson
Dr. Tarek Motan
Shawn Winsor
Sara Cohen
Jan Silverman
Jodie Peacock
Senator Lucie Moncion
Thanks to:
Elizabeth Friesen at the Telus Fund
Senator Julie Millville-Dechene
Silvie Biard
Marie-Pier Albert
Dr. Hudson and staff at Victoria Fertility Clinic
Dr. Dimitrios Dovas, Chrysa Karakosta and staff at New Life IVF Greece
Dr. Konstantinos Pantos and staff at Genesis Athens Clinic
Dr. Smithson, Carole Lawrence, Arianna McKenna and staff
at PCRM Fertility Clinic
Dr. Marjorie Dixon and staff at Anova Fertility Clinic
Dr. Librach, Deborah Davies and staff at CReATe Fertility Clinic
Fertility Matters Canada
Participants at the Canadian Fertility Show
Camille Guaty
Carolynn Dube
Michelle Kinney
Diane Tober
Cindy Wasser
Heidi Hayes, Donor Egg Bank USA
Dr. Joseph Doyle, Shady Grove Fertility
Dr. Gwen Goodrow, The Reproductive Care Centre
Dr. Samuel Soliman, Newlife Fertility Centre
Whistler Film Festival Doc Lab
Publicist
Cynthia Amsden
President
Public Relations & Branding Strategist
PH04-70 Alexander Street
Toronto ON Canada M4Y 3B6
416.910.7740
TELUS is proud and happy to support this important film about women's reproductive health and sovereignty. Health is one of TELUS' primary social purpose pillars, so we are incredibly excited to partner with Catapult Pictures and Dreaming Bird Productions to help make this contribution to a very important conversation.
Christina Willings, Snr Production Executive, TELUS originals.