Donor Unknown (2010)

91% of critics liked it
(11 reviews)
80% of users liked it
(260 ratings)

JoEllen Marsh was seven years old when she learned the truth about her biological father -- her mother had gone to a sperm bank in order to have a child, and JoEllen's "dad" was known simply as "Donor 150," a tall man with blonde hair and blue eyes. As time passed, JoEllen wondered if Donor 150… More JoEllen Marsh was seven years old when she learned the truth about her biological father -- her mother had gone to a sperm bank in order to have a child, and JoEllen's "dad" was known simply as "Donor 150," a tall man with blonde hair and blue eyes. As time passed, JoEllen wondered if Donor 150 fathered any other children through sperm donation, and through an on-line research database she got to know a handful of other young adults who shared the same DNA and a surprising number of both physical and emotional traits. JoEllen met even more of her half-siblings when a story about her search was published in the New York Times, and before long they developed a curiosity about meeting Donor 150 face to face. Filmmaker Jerry Rothwell documents JoEllen's search for her half-sisters and brothers and the father neither she or her mother ever knew in the documentary Donor Unknown, which also examines some of the curious aspects of the (largely unregulated) sperm back industry in California, as well as revealing the true identity of Donor 150, a former male exotic dancer and hippie massage therapist who donated sperm over 500 times in the 1980s. Donor Unknown received its world premiere at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 18 min.
Directed By: John Harrison, Jerry Rothwell
Written By: John Harrison, William H. Mooney
Genres: Documentary, Drama, Mystery & Suspense, Special Interest

In Theaters: Jun 21, 2011 Limited

Critic Reviews

MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher
[A]s cheery and bittersweet and lovely-melancholy as can be...
Nigel Andrews, Financial Times
My advice: re-rent The Kids Are All Right, where sperm-donor paternity (played by Mark Ruffalo) gets the rueful, witty, mischievous-seriocomical treatment it should.
Philip French, Guardian [UK]
The best feature film on the subject is Lisa Cholodenko's funny and touching The Kids Are All Right. Jerry Rothwell's engaging documentary delivers the real-life thing.
Allan Hunter, Daily Express
The scenes in which JoEllen meets her growing collection of half-sisters and half-brothers are among the most emotional in a sweet but slight documentary.
Derek Malcolm, This is London
Only in America, you're bound to say after watching Donor Unknown, but it's worth a look all the same.
Tony Peters, Radio Times
What emerges is a moving, very human story about the search for belonging, as much as the need to make a child's own identity complete.
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
It's a nice film, though I felt that there might be a deeper, more complex story to tell about the siblings' relations with each other and Harrison's own life-history.
Matthew Turner, ViewLondon
Heart-warming, mind-boggling and hugely entertaining, this is a superbly directed documentary that's by turns thought-provoking, laugh-out-loud funny and deeply moving.
Tom Huddleston, Time Out
Surprising, amusing and oddly melancholic: a genuine human drama.
David Hughes, Empire Magazine
It may be frustratingly uncommitted in its ending but it's a genuinely engaging journey.
Andrew Lowry, Total Film
Donor Unknown is a skilfully constructed look at a very modern family.