In the Best Interests of the Children
Presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
Part of the UCLA Film & Television Archive screening series Legacy Project Screening Series. Learn more at cinema.ucla.edu.
In-person: filmmakers Frances Reid and S. Topiary Landberg.
Lesbian Custody (2025)
This essential short reflects on the making of In the Best Interests of the Children, featuring filmmaker Frances Reid and her stepdaughter Julie, one of its original subjects. It explores Julie’s separation from her mother, co-director Elizabeth Stevens — then Reid’s partner — after coming out as lesbian and facing a custody battle. Blending archival footage with hindsight’s poignancy, it offers a layered historical perspective on queer family struggles and the fight for parental rights.
DCP, color, 15 min. Directors: S. Topiary Landberg, M. Francis Skonieczny.
In the Best Interests of the Children (1977)
Nearly a decade before data confirmed that children of lesbian mothers thrive, this groundbreaking documentary showcased this vital truth. Largely shot in the San Francisco Bay Area, the film explores the diverse experiences of eight families facing custody battles, legal scrutiny and widespread societal bias. Through tender interviews and intimate footage with the parents and, most poignantly, their children, this documentary offers a heartrending portrayal of parental love, challenging stereotypes and normalizing an exceedingly valid family model.
DCP, color, 53 min. Directors: Frances Reid, Elizabeth Stevens, Cathy Zheutlin.
ATTENDING THIS PROGRAM?
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