Daddy & Papa

As normal members of society, we are prepared from an early age for the day when we will have a family with our partner. Princes from fairy tales meet beautiful princesses and after their wedding, a crow or a white stork brings them a dream heir to the throne. Women in romantic comedies gaze longingly into the distance and imagine a room filled with children and a perfect husband. When visiting relatives our grandfathers and grandmothers are eager to hear the news about the latest object of our affection. Questions about the date of our wedding and the birth of our first child naturally follow. A family is an equation of three variables; woman, man and child. However, such rigid mathematical logic is contradicted by those alternative families where there is a second father bringing up the child instead of a mother or, similarly where one mum helps the other mom to tame the indomitable offspring. Gone are the days when gay parenting was just a dream. At least that is what American filmmaker, Johnny Symons, is trying to convince his viewers of in his semiautobiographical documentary Daddy and Papa. He also once thought that as a gay guy he would never have a family. In fact he often resisted the idea. But lo and behold, along came Zachary and everything changed. (Academia Film Olomouc)