
Mama Bears
Directed by:
Daresha Kyi
2022
90 minutes
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.
ABOUT THE FILM
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.
Mama Bears

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
CREDITS
Director
Daresha Kyi
Producers
Michael Ehrenzweig, Supervising Producer
Maximina Juson, Consulting Producer (as Maximina Juson Revis)
Daresha Kyi,Producer
Laura Tatham, Producer
Lois Saint-Jacques, Associate Producer
Executive Producers
Tiffany Boyle
Sally Jo Fifer
Scotch Ellis Loring
Kathryn M. Moseley
Chris Panizzon
Patty Quillin
Elsa Ramo
James Shani
Lois Vossen
Composer
Gil Talmi
Cinematographer
Amy Bench
Editors
Kelly Creedon
Hajer Salem
Sound Department
Richard Brian Galyean, Sound Mixer
Camera and Electrical Department
Alexxiss Jackson, Additional Camera
Maximina Juson, Additional Camera (as Maximina Juson Revis)
Animator
Mariah Marasco
Editorial Department
Iliana Garcia, Co-Editor
John Petersen, Colorist
Music Department
Andrew Gross, Music Supervisor
Maddy Rose Weisman, Music Editor
Additional Crew
Patrick Blood, Legal Counsel To Asylum Films
Justine Jacob, Legal Counsel