Perth Voice Interactive

“WE haven’t really told our parents yet that this is happening.” 

It’s now just a few weeks out from the premiere of a new short documentary What We Do for Family featuring producer Leslie Hornung donating sperm to start a family with his close friend Alex and childhood friend Sam. 

“That discussion is probably going to happen before the event,” Hornung says. “I don’t know. It’s so tricky.”

But from early on in the process he knew it was a story worth sharing with the public, and it was an easy choice for him to bring it to filmmaker Jennifer Piper.

“The story was just too lovely, too interesting, and too close to my heart,” Piper says, and she quickly got on board to direct the doco. 

“Because I am a firm believer, and a voracious, ferocious advocate for the idea of ‘found family’ and the importance of chosen family.

“And then when I met Alex and Sam I got to witness this whole huge, huge amount of love that these people have in their home and also within this chosen family unit.”

The decision to donate was also an easy ‘yes’ for Hornung. He’s gay and for a long time didn’t know if he wanted kids. “I knew at one point in my life, I had this idea of ‘at [age] 28 or 26, I’d have a great job and career, and be ready, and have a partner, and have kids. I’m like 34 now, and none of that’s happened. So, in my mind, I was like: When am I gonna do this? So it just made sense.”

Both were also keen to tell a story about a queer family that wasn’t a tragedy. 

This story isn’t finished yet. They’re still in the midst of the many months of screening, counselling, and filling out forms that’s required before becoming a donor, and the film highlights the extra lengths queer families have to go through to have children. The vagaries of fertility treatments are also unknowns on the road ahead. 

But both says this story already has a happy ending either way. 

“Whether or not this child comes into being, these people are family,” Piper says. “And that’s kind of cool. They just love each other so much.”

“We’ve become closer and closer” through the process, Hornung says. “And I think there’s something special about being a chosen family.”

Their short documentary What we Do for Family came about through the City of Vincent film project to tell local stories, and 

it premieres at Revelation Perth International Film Festival at the Get Your Shorts On event at Luna Leederville on July 16 at 7pm.