Gay and Lesbian Times Review

Film festivals offer diverse gay-themed programming

by Anthony Baldman

The San Diego Film Festival held at the Pacific Gaslamp Theaters Sept 21-25 contains three gay-themed films, including producer/director/writer Nicole Conn’s riveting and multiple award-winning documentary, little man.

The film chronicles the struggles of Nicholas, who was born 100 days premature to a surrogate mother. Weighing in at less than a pound, he’s isolated in an incubator at Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai Hospital NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) for 158 days, and his chances of survival are extremely slim.

Conn and her partner, Gwen Baba, used a reputable surrogate agency to arrange for Nicholas’ birth, but the surrogate mother the agency chose was not in the best health and that led to multiple complications.

“Mary is a very sweet and loving person, and I think her intentions are all good,” said Conn. “She was passed through a surrogacy agency and, from what all of our doctors have said, she should not have even been remotely considered a surrogate.”

Mary was in her late 30s when she was impregnated, and had a pre-existing condition called preeclampsia which had induced labor during her pregnancy with her first daughter. The condition resurfaced before Nicholas was born as well.

“By the time we discovered all of this stuff, it was too late in the game. She was already 20 weeks along,” explained Conn. “We were at this place where we had to make a decision whether we were going to keep it or not.”

Baba did not want to go through with the pregnancy, but Conn felt strongly they should.

“I felt him so strongly. I felt his little spirit so strongly. I needed for him to have his chance at destiny,” said Conn. “Although you can argue – and this is what the film is about – [that] it wasn’t his chance at destiny, it was science’s chance for his destiny…. Is science part of everybody’s destiny now? Do we utilize it to its greatest end so we can keep these babies alive, or do we let nature take its course?”

The film tackles all of the trials and tribulations in caring for a premature infant. Today, Nicholas is 3 1/2 years old and is doing well despite a variety of complex medical conditions. He is fed through a central IV because he can’t absorb nutrients properly because of a complication suffered earlier in the hospital where his intestines perforated.

“However, he’s a total natural 3-1/2-year-old toddler who walks and runs around, who wants to get in the dirt, wants to play like a little boy, loves to play ball,” said Conn.
Initially Conn did not have the intention of making a documentary about her own premature son. She had originally planned to chronicle surrogate motherhood.

“I just found it so fascinating that these people could carry a baby even if it wasn’t their embryo, as it was in our case,” said Conn. “It just totally confounded me.”

Cryptically, Conn bought a new camera the day before Nicholas’ sudden birth. She did not do any of the original footage in the film since she was too distraught over whether or not he was going to leave the hospital. Her producing partner and brother took care of all filming in the hospital.

“The footage that we have out of the NICU unit is extremely rare, and it’s going to be even more rare because they enacted the federal privacy laws in April of 2004, and you’re not allowed to shoot in NICU units anymore,” explained Conn.

little man premiered at the Cleveland International Film Festival in March and has won five awards so far this year including the Best Feature HBO Audience Award at the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film International Film Festival. It also won Best Documentary at Los Angeles’ Outfest film festival this past July.

little man plays on Saturday, Sept. 24, at 12:00 noon, and a Q&A with the filmmakers follows.