Freddy is thirty and yearns to start a family, but for him this ordinary desire comes with unique challenges: he is a gay transgender man. Deciding to carry his own baby took years of soul searching, but nothing could prepare him for the reality of pregnancy, as both a physical experience and one that challenges society’s fundamental understanding of gender, parenthood, and family. Freddy quickly realizes that what to him feels pragmatic, to others feels deeply confusing; this was not part of his plan. Against a backdrop of increasing hostility toward trans people, Freddy is forced to confront his own naivete, mine unknown depths of courage, and lean on every friend and family member who will stand by him. Made over the course of three years, SEAHORSE: THE DAD WHO GAVE BIRTH follows Freddy from preparing to conceive right through to birth. It is an intimate, audacious, and lyrical story about conception, pregnancy, and what makes us who we are.
Jeanie Finlay is one of Britain’s most distinctive documentary makers, creating award-winning work for cinema and television, telling intimate stories to international audiences. She has made films for HBO, IFC and four commissions for acclaimed BBC Storyville, including BIFA nominated The Great Hip Hop Hoax and BIFA winning Orion:The Man Who Would Be King.
Whether inviting audiences to share the (extra)ordinary journey of a British transgender man, pregnant with his child (BIFA nominated Seahorse), behind the scenes of Teesside’s last record shop in her home-town (SOUND IT OUT), or onto the set of the world’s biggest television show (Emmy nominated Game Of Thrones: The Last Watch), all of Jeanie's films share an empathetic approach to bringing overlooked and untold stories to the screen.
In 2023 a recipient of a prestigious Chicken & Egg award, recognising directors at advanced stages of their careers, poised to reach new heights.
Her films were showcased in a retrospective at Museum of Moving Image, NYC, People Everyday: The Films of Jeanie Finlay, by True Story, UK, are held in the archive at the British Film Institute and are featured on the BFI Player, part of The Camera is Ours: Britain's Women Documentary Makers. Her. films are showcased on Criterion in a collection called People Person: Documentaries by Jeanie Finlay.
Jeanie was awarded an honorary Doctorate by her alma mater Nottingham Trent University in recognition of her contribution to filmmaking.
