An LGBTQ+ feature-length documentary, Mama Bears, is making its rounds on the festival circuit this summer after premiering at SXSW, and will show at Outfest on July 22. According to Variety, the debut trailer shares a glimpse of the journeys women have taken to acceptance, whether of their LGBTQ+ children or themselves, while grappling with religious stigma. Mama Bears follows the establishment of a Facebook group of mothers who sought a community that wanted to spread love without compromising their faith, proposing that the two ideals are not mutually exclusive, and the importance of perspective and understanding.
Directed and produced by Emmy-winner Daresha Kyi, the trailer opens to stained-glass windows of a church as a woman flips through scripture over a cup of coffee. The woman is Kimberly Shappley, mother of transgender daughter Kai, previous “Tea Party Republican,” and just one of the women Mama Bears chronicles who now advocates for the safety and inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community. The trailer includes Midwest mom, Sara Cunningham, professing her love for her faith and her deeply personal beliefs, and how those very beliefs are what simultaneously led to her despair over learning her son was gay to the acceptance and formation of the “Free Mom Hugs” movement at pride parades. Mama Bears also shines a light on Tammi Terrell Morris, a woman who struggled to come to terms with her own sexuality due to her religion, and who represents the importance of a mother’s support in the film.
Each of the women in the documentary struggled to come to terms with the queer community because of their strict upbringing in “fundamentalist, evangelical” Christian homes. Kyi’s documentary aims to explore a unique viewpoint of the modern world’s road to acceptance by highlighting the ways a mother’s life transforms in the face of questioning conservative Christian teachings.
In the trailer, a woman says, “It was really hard to find another Christian that I could relate to until I met the Mama Bears,” and went on to discuss how it was the support group that led to her advocacy for the basic human rights of the LGBTQ+ community. The trailer provides comments from other women who have been ostracized from their Christian communities – friends and family – simply for affirming their children’s existence, as well as feedback from queer people who have benefited from the Free Hugs movement when their own families disowned them.
One mother on the importance of love and support for her LGBTQ+ child:
“Once you know how important fighting for your kid is, you can’t do anything else but fight for them.”
The documentary shows home movies, photographs and intimate interviews with those affected by the tumultuous relationship between politics, faith, and unconditional love. Mama Bears marks NYU Film School graduate Kyi’s second feature-length documentary after her biographical documentary, Chavela, on the life of Costa Rican-Mexican singer Chavela Vargas. Kyi went on to garner two Webby awards and an Emmy for her ACLU-commissioned work on the docuseries Trans In America: Texas Strong in 2018.
Mama Bears is produced by Laura Tatham, who returns to work with Kyi after producing for Chavela, and Austin-based filmmaker Amy Bench serves as director of photography.
Mama Bears will show at the Outfest Film Festival on July 22 and at the Traverse City Film Festival on July 28 and 29. You can learn more about the documentary on Kyi’s site and watch the Variety-exclusive trailer on their site.
