We Are Dad

Running time: 71 mins

Born HIV positive, Bert is a 13-year-old, raised since he was weeks old by his foster parents. But now that it has been determined that he is HIV negative, the State of Florida wants to take him away from the only parents he has ever known. Why? Because his foster parents are Roger and Steven, two gay dads, and the State feels that Bert is now eligible to be adopted by a ?normal? couple.

Bert isn?t the only child in Roger and Steven?s family. They have five foster kids, four with HIV. Director Michel Horvat looks at the world of this extraordinary family, which is incredibly well-balanced, despite the political, social and religious hurdles, as well as bigotry and discrimination, they must all overcome.

The story concentrates on Roger and Steven?s fight to adopt Bert, which seems to be the best way they can keep Bert in the family where he desperately wants to stay. When the ACLU gets involved, the battle enters territory previously unexplored, and the legality on the ban of gay adoption takes center stage. Juxtaposing various viewpoints on gay parenthood from every side of the spectrum, We Are Dad is at once comic, tragic, infuriating and inspirational.

Sandy Wolf

Screening with:
Goodnight, Bill; dir. John Mitchell; 19min/35mm/United States ? When forced to share his hospital room with a stranger, an old man realizes it?s never too late to change.

MAVERICK COMPETITION