lesbian custody (2025)

documentary short, trt: 15 mins

A video essay about the personal and political context of a little known lesbian feminist documentary film from 1977 called "In the Best Interests of the Children" (dirs. Frances Reid, Elizabeth Stevens, Cathy Zheutlin, 1977) about lesbian mothers fighting to regain custody of their children in the 1970s. As a nearly forgotten period of LGBTQ history, this video essay places the past in dialogue with the present. It introduces us to the now retired filmmaker Frances Reid (award winning cinematographer and director) along with her “step-daughter” Julie Stevens, as they look through the film’s archives and watch the film together.

co-directed by M. Francis Skonieczny & Samuel Topiary Landberg
cinematography by Clare Major