Now Streaming on Indies Showcase: Daddy & Papa

Exploring the growing phenomenon of gay fatherhood through the stories of four families, Daddy & Papa looks at gay fathers who face both the routine and revolutionary challenges of becoming parents. Watch the Emmy Award-nominated documentary streaming free until Sept. 1st on ITVS’s Indies Showcase.

Daddy & Papa explores the personal, cultural, and political impact of gay men who are making a decision that is at once traditional and revolutionary: to raise children themselves. Taking us inside four gay male families, Daddy & Papa traces the day-to-day challenges and the larger, critical issues that inevitably intersect their private lives – the ambiguous place of interracial families in America, the wonder and precariousness of surrogacy and adoption, the complexities of marriage and divorce within the gay community, and the legality of their own parenthood.

Watch Daddy & Papa now on ITVS’s Indies Showcase >>

Tags: adoption, babies, divorce, Emmy, Fatherhood, film festival, gay, marriage, parenting, parents, Sundance, traditional

An Epic Journey for an Autistic Boy

“…this compelling documentary presents its story via multiple access points: the subject of autism, the notion of alternative healing and the simple travelogue appeal of an excursion to remote, untamed Mongolia. The Horse Boy has the nerve to be spiritual without entering the minefield of faith, and through careful handling, could resonate strongly with underserved audiences.” –Variety

“An extraordinary journey of the heart and spirit, and a stirring testament to parenthood.”   –Los Angeles Times

How far would you travel to heal someone you love? For one Texas couple, it means a spiritual journey halfway around the world to Mongolia. When their son is diagnosed with autism, they seek the best treatments but nothing works… Until they discover their son’s connection to horses and the effect it has on him. Part travel adventure and shamanic quest, this is the story of how one family found a gateway into understanding their son’s life.

The Horse Boy premieres tonight, Tuesday, May 11 at 10:00 on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings).

Tags: Autism, children, mongolia, parenting, shaman

We Are Family — Behind the Scenes on Sunshine

Filmmaker Karen Skloss with Jeremy Harrison

What makes a family? It’s a question our society is grappling with, and the question that drove filmmaker Karen Skloss to make her film, Sunshine, which premieres on Independent Lens on PBS on May 4 (check local listings).

In this exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, Skloss captures a storyline about single fathers and gay parents that didn’t make it into the final cut of the film, but which adds another layer of complexity to the broader societal discussion of family and identity, parenthood and pride.

Jeremy, father to Skloss’s daughter Jasmine, is the product of divorce and was raised in part by his gay father in Houston in the late 1970s. As was the case for Skloss, and her biological mother before her, Jeremy’s father Mike had to deal with the social stigma of single parenthood, but he also had to navigate the more explosive territory of being a single dad who happened also to be gay in a very conservative place and time.

Watch Sunshine: Single Dads >>

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Tags: family, gay parents, parenting, single parents