Mama Bears

The Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers connects US-based documentary filmmakers with communities throughout the South for screenings and conversations around important stories and the art of filmmaking. This special screening of MAMA BEARS will be followed by a post-film discussion with Director Daresha Kyi, Producer Laura Tatham and O Cinema's Director of Programming Matt Walter.

THE FILM

Did you know there are more than 32,000 mothers in America — many from conservative, Christian backgrounds — who fully accept their LGBTQ+ children? Spread across the country but connected through private Facebook groups, they call themselves “mama bears” because while their love is warm and fuzzy, they fight ferociously to make the world kinder and safer for all LGBTQ+ people. Although some may have grown up as fundamentalist, evangelical Christians, mama bears are willing to risk losing friends, family, and faith communities to keep their offspring safe—even if it challenges their belief systems and rips their worlds apart.MAMA BEARS is an intimate, thought-provoking exploration of the journeys taken by Sara Cunningham and Kimberly Shappley, two “mama bears” —whose profound love for their LGBTQ children has turned them into fierce advocates for the entire queer community — and Tammi Terrell Morris, a young African American lesbian whose struggle for self-acceptance perfectly exemplifies why the mama bears are so vitally important.

SPECIAL GUESTS

Daresha Kyi (Director) is an Emmy Award–winning director who also writes and produces film and television in Spanish and English. She most recently directed a short documentary for Time Studios and the SpringHill Company called GEORGIA GOING BLUE about the Georgia-based grassroots organizations working to fight voter suppression in Georgia and throughout the country. She is currently in post-production on BLACK VOTERS MATTER, a feature documentary which chronicles Cliff and April Albright’s and LaTosha Brown’s rise from aspiring acolytes to game changing civil rights leaders and the critical role they played in helping Georgia flip from red to blue in 2020 and 2021.

Laura Tatham (Producer) is a creative producer committed to telling stories that highlight urgent social justice issues. She is currently producing the feature-length documentary WHAT WE CARRY having recently completed the feature documentary MAMA BEARS (2022 SXSW, 2023 Independent Lens) and the short documentary BLACK BEAUTY (2022 Blackstar, 2022 Outfest). In the past seven years she’s worked on numerous award-winning films—as associate producer on the feature-length documentaries CHAVELA (2017 Berlinale) and DISPATCHES FROM CLEVELAND (2017 CIFF) and as the NYC production office manager for AMERICA, a series of silent, narrative shorts (2019 Sundance). She was a 2020 Film Independent Documentary Lab and a 2022 and 2020 WIF/Sundance Institute Financing Intensive fellow.

Ashley Mayfaire serves as the Director of Operations at TransSOCIAL, Inc. Their passion for community organizing and social justice issues has led to their current role in non-profit management. After experiencing firsthand the barriers that their husband, Morgan, faced during his gender transition from female to male, Ashley and Morgan co-founded TransSOCIAL, Inc. to build a network of resources and support for the Trans community. Ashley frequently speaks on educational panels and is always creating new curriculum for TransSOCIAL’s TLGBQ+ Cultural Competency Training for businesses, healthcare providers and universities, making sure that they are compliant with federal non-discrimination guidelines and creating more safe and affirming spaces for Trans people to access care and public accommodations. They utilize their platform to educate and engage the community in HIV prevention and treatment efforts through their participation in the South Florida AIDS Network as ARCH Broward Committee Chair, and have consulted for multiple research projects and reports on HIV in the Trans community. They also serve on the Board of Pride Fort Lauderdale, spearheading the creation of South Florida’s first Trans Pride celebration in 2018. An alumna of Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Ashley spends their free time creating art and tending to their furry and feathered children.