Beginning today, you’ll be able to watch New York Film Academy Musical Theatre alumnus, Jaspal Binning‘s newest independent feature, “Ovum,” on Digital (iTunes), DVD and Video-on-Demand (VOD). Binning both stars and is executive producer in this dark, comedic, yet uniquely poignant story about the mysterious world of egg donation, which is loosely based on the true-life experience of writer/star Sonja O’Hara.
In addition to Binning and O’Hara, the film stars Hassan Johnson (“The Wire”), Katie Morrison (“Donnie”), Jaspal Binning (“Brown Nation”) and Rutanya Alda (“The Deer Hunter”). It is directed by Matt Ott, with Dan McBride as editor and director of photography. The film is produced by Vincent Petrosini, Anna Lauren Farrell and Sonja O’Hara. Jeff Forbes, Jack Turner, Kris Frank, and Elyssa Lyn Rabinowitz.
“The idea for Ovum came to me when I was flipping through the pages of Backstage,” said writer and star, Sonja O’Hara. “Next to casting notices for student films and Off-Off-Broadway plays, I noticed a picture of a group of beautiful, glowing young women and an ad that read: Do something meaningful. Help a woman in need. $8,000 dollars. I remember thinking, ‘here they are marketing a dangerous and experimental vanity procedure to fledgling actresses who are more often than not desperate and financially impaired young women.’ Ultimately I discovered that the in vitro fertilization process can be potentially more affordable than the sometimes exorbitant adoption fees in New York State. The whole issue wasn’t black and white and I felt compelled to explore the questionable moral gray area of financial compensation in exchange for human life. Could an audience relate to a self-serving female character who sells her eggs?”
This is not the first collaboration with Binning and O’Hara. The two won Best Director prize at the New York Television Festival and Best Pilot of the Festival at ITV Fest for “Doomsday.”
Since graduating from the Musical Theatre program, Binning has also appeared in Aaron Sorkin’s HBO series “The Newsroom,” and he plays the lead in the Netflix’s original series, “Brown Nation.”