Friday Harbor Film Festival Screening: Mama Bears

Did you know there are more than 32,000 mothers in America — many from conservative, Christian backgrounds — who fully accept their LGBTQ+ children? They call one another “mama bears” because of the ferocity with which they fight for their children’s rights. A heart-warming documentary about them will be shown at 7 pm on Friday, June 14 at the San Juan Island Library. It will be followed by a recorded interview about the film with Director Daresha Kyl. This event is FREE and open to the public. No tickets or reservations are needed.

More about the film:

Winner of the 2023 Friday Harbor Film Festival's Audience Choice Tales from the Heart Award, 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.

Spread across the country but connected through private Facebook groups, they also call themselves “mama bears” because while their love is warm and fuzzy, but 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.