MAMA BEARS is an intimate, thought-provoking exploration of the journeys taken by Sara Cunningham and Kimberly Shappley, two “mama bears”—conservative, Christian mothers 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. MAMA BEARS is the story of women who have allowed nearly every aspect of their lives to be completely reshaped by love. Although they may have grown up as fundamentalist Christians, these two mama bears are willing to risk losing friends, family, and faith communities to keep their children safe—even if it challenges their belief systems and rips apart their worlds.
The film debuted at SXSW in March 2022 and was screened at over 100 festivals worldwide. It aired on Independent Lens on June 20, 2023 and can be rented by schools, universities and churches through Video Project and by individuals through Kinema.
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The Makers
Daresha Kyi: Director/Producer
Daresha writes, produces, and directs film and television in Spanish and English. A graduate of NYU Film School, Mama Bears is her second feature documentary.
Her films have been funded by ITVS, NEA, IDA Enterprise, Creative Capital, the Jerome Foundation, and many other foundations and she has an extensive background in television and has produced programming for FX, WE, AMC, Telemundo, and FUSE, among other networks.
Laura Tatham: Producer
Laura Tatham has worked on a number of social justice projects. Her most recent, the all archival film WTO/99 premiered at True/False Film Fest. “An immersive archival documentary that reanimates the 1999 "Battle of Seattle" clash between the then-emerging World Trade Organization (WTO) and the more than 40,000 people who took to the streets of Seattle to protest the organization's impact on human rights, labor, and the environment” the movie exposes the truth about what happened in Seattle 25 years ago via a mosaic of video footage shot by the protestors and people on the streets.
All We Carry (2024) is a feature documentary that follows a young Honduran family as they flee persecution—migrating in cargo trains across Mexico, claiming asylum at the US border, and enduring separation in detention before being released in Seattle. As the family tries to settle into their new home, we witness their everyday moments—both sorrowful and joyful—along the way.
She produced Mama Bears and served as the associate producer for Chavela and Dispatches from Cleveland. Originally hailing from the world of book publishing, Laura has spent nearly ten years in both the corporate (Simon & Schuster) and nonprofit (Feminist Press) publishing sectors, working on countless New York Times bestsellers, as well as Lambda Literary and Pulitzer Prize–winning works.
Amy Bench: Director of Photography
Amy is a cinematographer and filmmaker based in Austin, Texas. She has been twice nominated for the Kodak Excellence in Cinematography Award and has won grants from the Texas Filmmaker’s Production Fund, Women in Film/Dallas, and the Department of Education’s Jacob K. Davits Fellowship. She lensed the feature films Loves Her Gun, which premiered at SXSW in 2013, and The Golden Rut, which premiered at the Austin Film Festival in 2016, and the short Bad at Dancing, which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2015.
As a director her film More Than I Want To Remember (2022) won a 2023 NAACP Image Award and was shortlisted for an Oscar and Breaking Silence (2023) which she co-directed with Annie Silverstein, enjoyed a rich festival run, won both a Jury Award and an Audience Award at SXSW and premiered on PBS’ Independent Lens. She is currently in pre-production on her third feature film, and was recently named a “DP on the Rise” by Paste magazine. Her work has screened worldwide, at festivals including Sundance, Berlin, New York, and MOMA/PS1.
THE MAMAS
Kimberly: Texas
Kimberly says she was “born a Republican"—one who believed it was her duty as a Southern Christian woman to show up and vote for the conservative party ticket. She bought wholesale into the church’s teachings that the "lifestyles" of LGBTQ people were a choice and that Satan “had ahold of them.” But everything changed the day she overheard her four-year-old son, who she had been punishing for insisting that he was a girl since the age of three, praying to die. This shook her to her core and she began to get educated. When she learned about gender dysphoria and discovered that 41 percent of transgender children attempt suicide due to bullying, social rejection, and depression, she became determined to accept and support her child at any cost. It’s been a long, sometimes painful journey, but Kimberly has become a fierce advocate for LGBTQ rights as she continues to fight for her daughter.
Sara: Oklahoma
For months after her son Parker came out as gay, Sara lay in bed weeping, believing he was doomed to eternal damnation. After five long months, Parker said, “You know, Mom, I had to suck it up for twenty-one years to be your son. Now I need you to suck it up and be my mom." And that did it. Sara closely examined the Bible to come to terms with her new reality, and she could find no justification for the condemnation of homosexuality, so she left her church, officially “came out” in support of her son (losing friends and family members), and joined a mama bears group. When she saw the stats about how many LGBTQ people were rejected by their families, she and a posse of like-minded mama bears started marching in pride parades with a “Free Mom Hugs” banner. After Trump’s election, she took the banner on the road in a ten-city “Free Mom Hugs” Tour which eventually led her to start a non-profit which now has chapters in all 50 states!
TENITA: CALIFORNIA
Raised in a strict, Pentecostal church, Tenita loves her thirty-three-year-old daughter fiercely—even though Tammi is a lesbian and Tenita firmly believes homosexuality is a sin. As Tenita says, her daughter’s sexuality “does not in any way diminish the love” she has for her, but it does present multiple challenges for both. As a mom in the early stages of the journey toward acceptance, Tenita offers audiences a fascinating study of a mother in flux who is deeply conflicted by her deep, abiding love for her child and the teachings of her faith. UPDATE: Since the film’s release Tenita has become fully affirming!!!
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