Eugenics and Genetic Enhancement - Documentaries

After the Apocalypse
Director: Anthony Butts
Country of origin and year: UK, 2010
During the Soviet era, the people of Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan were used as human experimental subjects in the testing of nuclear weapons. Today they live with the consequences: sheep graze in radioactive giant bomb craters and in the most affected villages 1 in 20 children are born with birth defects. Dr Toleukhan Nurmagambetov, the director of the city's maternity clinic, wants a genetic passport which will prevent those with suspect genes from giving birth. Bibigul - a local woman from the test-site - is pregnant and her "defected and frightful" face arouses the suspicion of local medical staff. Nurmagambetov labels her a genetic failure. He implores Bibigul to get tested and abort the child who he fears will be born disabled. Will Bibigul give in? If not, will her child be disabled?
Internet Movie Database webpage: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1825646/

Brave New Babies
BBC2 Horizon (UK)—15 November 1982, 21:30, 50 min
Oxford moral philosopher Jonathan Glover introduces some of the new developments in genetic engineering, looks at the future possibilities and outlines the ethical questions raised by these new techniques. This documentary showcased new developments in genetic engineering, including extensive coverage of experiments in the early 80's involving gene mapping, cloning and embryo manipulation.

A Baby To Save Our Son
BBC1 (UK)—10 December 2003, 21:00
The story of the creation of Britain's first so-called designer baby, this documentary follows the Whitaker family in their fight to have a special baby to save their three year old son, Charlie.

If... We Could Stop The Violence
BBC Two (UK)—Wednesday, 22 December, 2004, 21:00 hrs, 60 min
Since Tony Blair's famous boast: "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime", politicians continue to court the electorate with crime prevention promises.  While the connection between crime and poverty is well known, links between violence and genetic make-up are still being explored.  Could - and should - people's physiological predisposition to violent behaviour ever be managed by the state? The IF series of drama-documentaries continues with an exploration of how far scientists can prove a genetic cause for violence. And it questions the extent to which society should intrude on any individual's liberty, even when it is for the supposed good of society.

Horizon: Who's Afraid of Designer Babies?
BBC Two (UK)—24 February 2005, 52 min
What is a 'designer baby' and can we really make one today? This documentary aims to cut through the hype and distortions to get at the truth. The film looks at three techniques often linked to alarmist headlines about designer babies: preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), gene therapy and cloning. The film asks if any of these technologies will really give us the ability to hand-pick the genes of our children.

Frozen Angels
Directors:  Frauke Sandig, Eric Black
Country of origin and year: Germany/USA, 2005
Frozen Angels follows the personal stories and perspectives of the intelligent blonde college students donating eggs, the surrogate mums and the waiting parents, challenging everyone's moral code along the way. One sperm donor could potentially father hundreds of children in the same city – what if two were to fall in love? With blonde blue-eyed Californian designer babies de rigueur, are we heading towards genetic imperialism?
Internet Movie Database webpage: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436334/

Life and Death in the 21st Century. Pt.3, Designer Babies
BBC 1(UK)—7 April 1999, 22:20 hrs, 50 min
It is already possible to select the sex of a prospective child - but how much power should parents have over the genetic make-up of their offspring? Implanting genes is a prospect that may become a reality in a few years and must be considered now. Gene implantation could correct genetic diseases at the embryonic stage but once this is done, it will be in demand for reasons other than the screening out of serious diseases.

Sex and the Single Gene?
BBC2 (UK)—Friday 27 April 2001, 18:30 hrs
A film documentary which looks at the science behind a controversial piece of genetic research - the so-called "gay gene". A geneticist explains how this kind of study is carried out - from the initial interviews with gay men and their families, to the plotting of family trees, the extraction of DNA and the analysis of samples in the lab. The film considers the findings of this research - that homosexuality is, in part, genetically determined - and discusses whether these findings will advance the cause of gay rights, and promote tolerance and understanding in society at large.

Bloodlines: a Family Legacy
BBC2 (UK)—18 May 2001, 01:00
An early morning look at what difference the human genome project has made to the fight against disease.

Relative Risk: The Human Genome Project
BBC2 (UK)—12 July 1993, 00:30 hrs
A look at the Human Genome Project, described by the schedulers as offering 'hope to those suffering from fatal genetic diseases but also opens the way for new forms of discrimination'.

How to Build a Human
BBC2 (UK)—January 2001
This film portrays how genes and hormones shape human life from cradle to grave.

Bitter Inheritance
BBC2 (UK)—24 January, 2002, 21:50
The third of a five-part series documenting the dilemmas faced by families with genetic diseases. In this film, an inherited disorder prevents a woman from carrying a baby to term.

After the Genome
BBC2 (UK)—Sunday 26 November 2006, 05:00
A film discussing the publishing of the human genome that asks whether the knowledge can bring science closer to curing cancer and understanding what makes us human.

Sickle Cell - A Lethal Advantage
 BBC2 (UK)—17 January 1998, 06:00 hrs, 30 min
A film documentary looking at why a potentially lethal inherited condition became so common among people of African origin.

DNA: The Human Race
Channel 4 (UK), 2003, 50 min
DNA is a series celebrating the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the Double helix. This is an oral history of a molecule, told by the pioneers who made the key discoveries. It charts some extraordinary developments from the discovery, through the early days of genetic engineering to the human genome project. It concludes with a film about the future, featuring one of the initial discoverers, James Watson. 

The Genius Sperm Bank
BBC2 (UK)—Thursday 15 June 2006, 21:00 hrs, 60 min
A Californian millionaire established a sperm bank in 1980 with the aim of creating exceptional individuals.  Problems abounded, however and today, it is still unknown whether his grand idea was successful because most of the children created through his clinic remain anonymous.
Internet Movie Database webpage: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436352/

My Baby: A Life Worth Living?
BBC 4 (UK)—Wednesday 26 April 2006, 21.00
Candida Harris explores the emotional and practical dilemmas faced by couples desperate for children, yet all too aware of the implications of passing on their disability to their children. One couple's only definite way of avoiding passing a condition on to their second child would be to get pregnant, then screen and abort if the condition is detected. The second family has a severe genetic condition which cannot be found during a screening process. Others have knowingly passed on disabilities to their offspring.  The film also explores new developments in reproductive technology - in particular, one technique which can produce a baby free of a certain condition.

The Architecture of Doom (Original Title: Undergångens arkitektur)
Director: Peter Cohen
Country of origin and year: Sweden, 1989
An absorbing and chilling documentary about the National Socialist aesthetic, and how attempts to create the Aryan Ideal caused the extermination of millions.

Homo Sapiens 1900
Director: Peter Cohen
Country of origin and year: Sweden, 1998
Homo Sapiens 1900 documents the birth and rise of the eugenics movement in the early 20th century, as well as its decline after World War II.  The darker side of eugenics was embraced by leaders in Nazi Germany (and Stalinist Russia) to justify "weeding out" those whom they considered undesirable members of society; it thus gained an association with fascism that led to its doom in the scientific community.
Internet Movie Database webpage: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0176825/

Panorama: Miracle Baby Grows Up
BBC One (UK)—Wednesday, 22 September 2004, 21:00
Film Documentary relating to premature babies and the possible consequences relating to eugenics.

Children of the Master Race
Channel 5 -21 November 2013 21:00
In 1935, Heinrich Himmler established the Lebensborn (spring of life) programme, an obscene solution to Germany’s falling birth rate. The scheme involved secret birthing homes, the kidnapping of thousands of children and the murder of tiny babies. Its aim was to spawn a ‘racially pure’ generation to rule Hitler’s Reich, which was to last for a millennium. This film uncovers the story of children who were born to be the future of Hitler’s master race.
http://www.channel5.com/shows/children-of-the-master-race

FIXED: The Science/Fiction of Human Enhancement
Director: Regan Brashear
This documentary takes a close look at the drive to be “better than human” and the radical technological innovations that some are advocating we embrace.

Surviving Eugenics
Director: Jordan Miller, Nicola Fairbrother, Robert A Wilson
Country of origin and year: Canada, 2015
Surviving Eugenics is about the history and ongoing significance of eugenics, made for classroom and community use. Anchored by survivor narratives from the province of Alberta in Canada, it provides a unique insiders' view of life in institutions for the "feeble-minded", and raises broader questions about disability, human variation, and contemporary social policies.
http://eugenicsarchive.ca/film/

A world without Down's syndrome?
BBC Two, 5 October 2016 
In this documentary, actress Sally Phillips takes us on a thoughtful journey exploring the different facets of the prenatal testing debate from the Down's community perspective.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07ycbj5

A Dangerous Idea
This documentary reveals how biologically determined politics has disenfranchised women and people of color, provided a rationale for state sanctioned crimes committed against America’s most vulnerable citizens, and now gains new traction under the Trump administration.
http://adangerousideafilm.com/#synopsis

The Nazi Nurseries
2014, 52 min
https://www.zed.fr/en/tv/distribution/catalogue/programme/nazi-nurseries-the?media=286

The Gene Revolution – Changing Human Nature
BBC - 2020
This documentary is a provocative exploration of CRISPR's far-reaching implications, through the eyes of the scientists who discovered it, the families it’s affecting and the bio-engineers who are testing its limits. How will this new power change our relationship with nature? What will it mean for human evolution? To begin to answer these questions, we must look back billions of years and peer into an uncertain future.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000dt7d/storyville-the-gene-revolution-changing-human-nature

Human Nature
Director: Adam Bolt
A documentary about gene editing and CRISPR, as well as some of the ethics of gene editing.
https://www.geneticsandsociety.org/biopolitical-times/movie-review-human-nature