Motivated by the recent debate over California’s Proposition 8, Catherine Opie and Lisa Udelson are teaming up to make a documentary giving voice to the children of gay and lesbian parents. They’re hoping to raise $15,000 for the project via the United States Artists website. (This is the same site through which Zoe Strauss raised money for this project.)
MAN readers know Opie as America’s most important photographer. Udelson is a filmmaker whose first documentary, “Lifetime Guarantee” was about a Jewish lesbian folk singer who sold Tupperware. The film won numerous awards, including the SXSW Film Festival audience award for first documentary. [Image: Opie, Oliver in a Tutu, 2004. Collection of the Guggenheim.]
From the filmmakers’ description of their project:
Same Difference focuses on the opinions of children with same sex parents, ranging in age from two to eighteen. They speak with humor, insight, intelligence and passion about their lives and their families. The film includes their parents and grandparents, including the filmmakers, who daily navigate the landscape of queer family. The interview process becomes its own character of sorts, as subjects reveal themselves in unexpected ways. Additionally, the film is punctuated with vintage film footage to create irony and recognition of the historical representation of family.
Same Difference is an exploration of the construction of family, which encompasses multiple layers of parenting. Subjects include families of single and divorced parents, adopted and multi-racial families, as well as multiple parent households. This is a reflection on the modern American family, not only those within the LGBTQ community, but society at large.
