Frotcast 584: As the World Sperms, w Spermworld director Lance Oppenheim

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Did you guys know that there's an entire shadow sperm market that exists outside of regular sperm banks, largely connecting donors and recipients on an ad-hoc basis through a series of Facebook groups? This is the world chronicled in Spermworld, Lance Oppenheim's latest documentary, currently out on FX/Hulu. It's a fascinating, sometimes excruciatingly awkward portrait largely centered on three sperm donors: Ari, a Jewish guy with upwards of 130 children and a disapproving mother who views his life like a screwball comedy. Tyree, a mechanic and ex-con who has immersed himself in the sperm-donating game even as he and his partner, Atasha, are themselves having trouble conceiving. And Steve, a fit, 60-year-old divorcee from Tennessee who has struck up an unlikely... friendship? with Rachel, a 27-year-old lung-transplant recipient with cystic fibrosis. One question hovers above all the donors. What's driving them?

Lance has a knack for shooting desperate oddballs, as he previously showed in Some Kind of Heaven, a hilarious, sometimes tragic documentary about the Villages retirement community which premiered at Sundance in 2020 and went on to make my own best-of list (in which I only very rarely include docs, even though I love them). That one was produced by Darren Aronofsky.

Later this year, Lance has “Ren Faire,” produced by Elara Pictures and HBO, a three-part docuseries about the epic succession battle at America’s largest renaissance festival. That one is produced by the Safdie Brothers and recently debuted at SXSW. Nathan Fielder hosted a recent screening. Of course, Lance is also just a fun hang, and more than game to be grilled about his work. Which also provided Matt ample opportunity to talk about his favorite subject, cum. We all had thick ropes of fun, at least 10 to 15 milliliters worth.

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