Institute History
Description
Filmmaker Anne Makepeace turns the camera on herself as she and her husband boldly document a tumultuous year spent in trying to conceive a child after forty. With time no longer on their side, she and her writer husband Peter subject themselves to a range of new technologies, including months of fertility drug injections, surgery to extract eggs, fertilization, and replacement of the fertilized eggs in Anne’s uterus. As part of their story, we are introduced to their unconventional baby-boomer siblings. We travel from Utah to Appalachia to Canada to meet family members: a brother who’s hoping to become a polygamist, another who lives a reclusive life on a goat farm, and a lesbian sister-in-law, who is coparenting a newborn with her partner. Makepeace was raised in a Puritan-style New England family, where feelings were hardly expressed, let alone sex ever being discussed. She tries to come to terms with her past and conflicting emotions through talking to aging relatives.
Baby, It’s You is a striking and uncompromising portrait of family and the unique bonds between its members. Makepeace’s courage to share such a deeply personal experience in front of the camera is truly moving. Based on the events that take place during the year, it is clear the film evolved organically rather than following any sort of planned scenario, which gives it added impact. Rarely do we see such an open and honest portrayal throughout the emotional roller coaster of anticipation, disappointment, and hope that carries this determined couple along.
Anne Makepeace, Director
Anne Makepeace was born in Connecticut, attended Stanford University, and taught English for several years before discovering her passion for filmmaking. Her thesis film at Stanford launched her career. Her first feature script won an invitation to Sundance’s Filmmakers Lab, and she has been writing and directing ever since. Her films include A Thousand Pieces of Gold; Ishi, the Last Yahi; Night Driving, and Wildest Dreams, and they have earned her Four CINE Golden Eagles, two Gold Hugos, a Houston Gold Award, and two Wrangler Awards.