A Film Festival for Fathers

"Every Father is a Story"

Getting men together to talk about their experiences being a father doesn’t draw a big crowd but it sure is rewarding. Men openly talk about man stuff but rarely talk about fathering and rarely share experiences about their own father in conversations with other men. Women don’t have this problem. The joys and perils of motherhood is a favorite topic among them.

Butch Slaughter introducing the festival format

The Faces of our Fathers Film Festival (FFFF) is taking the father issue head on by showing short films dedicated to daddy conundrums. FFFF pioneer Butch Slaughter is definitely not catering to an eager audience clamoring for this daddy focused entertainment, but he still sees value in using the film festival approach to build an audience to focus on daddy issues.

L-R: Steve Fischer, Rod Powell, Jon Whitington representing
father support group 'Father's are Talking'.
Not shown, Stefan Roots because he was taking the
photo. And no, these guys really aren't sleeping

Slaughter witnessed his father kill his mother at 12 years old and lived with hate and rage until recently when he arranged to meet with his father for the first time since the tragedy. Slaughter has channeled his strong feelings and employed his journalistic and film making talents to helping others who have daddy issues through books, films, and lectures. He’s been on the Dr. Phil Show and was very close to having his pilot picked up by Oprah when she launched her OWN Network.

The Film Festival featured five films. One was a student film created recently at a local high school under Slaughter’s direction using James Brown’s ‘Poppa Don’t Take No Mess’ as its core. The next film highlighted racial and ethnic bigotry in a hospital as the main character’s father was on his death bed. The next film featured a happy young family with 6 children and a hard working dad who discovers a serious breach of trust with his wife only after being open, honest, berated and finally proven truthful to her. Butch Slaughter showed two of his own films, which contrasted his rage in one film to his forgiving mindset in the second film.

Book of Nimrod director/producer Carla P. Morales
and Nimrod himself, Noel A. Reyna sit with
Rod Powell and Butch Slaughter to discuss the web series

The final showing was a trailer and episode of the web series ‘Book of Nimrod’. This gritty urban drama features a character that saves a young girl sold in a drug trade from the horrors of the street.

Look for Faces of our Fathers Film Festival at Widener University and Delaware County Community College soon. It doesn’t cost anything to join the conversation to talk about being a dad.