Seahorse Parents

Bertolt Brecht asked whether there would be singing in the dark times. In the throes of war, the United Ukrainian Ballet Company defiantly insists there will be dancing, too. Far from the land they call home, young dancers take quiet comfort from art. For a while, their work feels like the old days, except there is a new troupe member: a soldier learning to dance with prosthetic legs.

“Seeds of Deceit” tells the story of fertility doctor Jan Karbaat, who secretly used his own seed instead of donors’. An intimate film about two mothers and their children, who must face this new reality and try again to live with each other.

The revelation in 2017 that the late Dr. Karbaat clandestinely used his own semen to inseminate over 65 of his patients shocked the world. This documentary series is a vivid portrayal of how that happened and how it haunts today those affected: the emotional trauma of coming to terms with a changed, uncertain genetic origin.