In a Perfect World…
IN A PERFECT WORLD... Explores all the requisite dynamics of what it is to be a man raised by a single mother. The inspiration for the film came from the director's own relationship with her son who has a largely absentee father.
Over the course of several years, independent filmmaker and producer Daphne McWilliams began interviewing men about the relationships they had with their mothers and, to varying degrees, their absentee fathers. At the same time, she was raising her own son, Chase, as a single parent. She noticed that as Chase entered his teens, their relationship took a dramatic turn as he began coping with his most formative years and becoming an adult without the consistent presence of his own father. McWilliams realized it was time to turn the camera on her own family to document her son's painful abandonment issues while seeking to help him express and understand his feelings.
Thus the documentary became both a personal depiction of her son's maturation process as well as a sociological overview of what it is like to be a man raised solely by one's mother. Viewers hear the voices of a variety of men from various backgrounds and ages, sharing painfully personal anecdotes and allowing McWilliams to capture their current lives to see the men they've become in the wake of emotionally turbulent and unsettling periods of their youth.
IN A PERFECT WORLD… is both a deeply personal and introspective portrait of a modern family as well as a probing cinematic essay examining one of society's greatest ailments.
Filmmaker Daphne Williams is available for speaking engagements.
Reviews
"An important and timely film. Director Daphne McWilliams bravely explores the health and hardiness of men raised by single mothers... I was struck by how a room full of boisterous teens fell silent as they watched the film that mirrored many of their own experiences."
- Sean Grover L.C.S.W, Psychology Today and Author of When Kids Call the Shots
"What's most interesting is the eventual sit down with Chase's own father that proves to be the most revealing interview of them all. A doc that proudly adopts a 'no guts no glory' fearlessness, McWilliams work is near perfect."
- Jason Coleman, Starpulse
"A challenging and incredibly intimate work charged with deep emotion."
- IndieWire
"A documentary that explores, through Chase's experience and that of other men who were raised without fathers, how they filled the holes in their hearts and prevailed over their feelings of anger, sadness and abandonment."
- Sheila Anne Feeney, AMNewYork
Screenings
Los Angeles Film Festival, Premiere
Run&Shoot Filmworks Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festival
Margaret Mead Film Festival
Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival
Greater Cleveland Urban Film Festival
Milwaukee Film Festival
Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival
Pan African Film Festival
New Voices in Black Cinema
Showtime Documentaries For educational streaming, visit twn.tugg.com
For educational DVDs, visit twn.org
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