Événement

Fatherhood @ 27th Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival

(Ben Gregor, U.K., 2017, 74 min.)

A marvelously raw and heartfelt film about absent fathers and at-risk kids, Fatherhood is part music-video anthology, part confessional anthropology, part urgent social-issues documentary. Director Ben Gregor showcases four groups of young composers, lyricists, singers, and dancers in Memphis, New York City, Los Angeles, and London each of whom compose and perform a musical number that expresses their complex feelings about their fathers. Structured but loose-feeling, the film proceeds through the four cities in turn, allowing each group of kids to speak about their experiences before unleashing their musical talents in videos that seethe with sorrow, anger, pity, and more convoluted emotions. In an effort to find an innovative way forward, the film also interviews some absent fathers, exploring the reasons why they abandoned their children. By turns powerful, shocking, and uplifting, Fatherhood makes essential new voices heard and features songs that span the genres of soul, hip-hop, gospel, classical, blues, and spoken word.