Begotten is a 1989 American experimental horror film written, produced, edited and directed by Edmund Elias Merhige. It stars Brian Salsburg, Donna Dempsy, Stephen Charles Barry, and members of Merhige's theatre company Theatreofmaterial. The film contains no dialogue and mimics the style of aged black-and-white films. Its enigmatic plot, drawn from elements of various creation myths, opens with the suicide of a Godlike figure and the births of Mother Earth and the Son of Earth, who set out on a journey of death and rebirth through a barren landscape. According to art historian Scott MacDonald, the film's allegorical qualities and purposeful ambiguity invite multiple interpretations.