The Pixel Project Selection: Five Fantastic Films About Fathers

As we seek out and gather interviews with 30 exemplary Dads from around the world for our upcoming 30 For 30 Father’s Day campaign highlighting positive non-violent Dads, we hope this short and sweet list of films about fathers who exemplify good Dads who are positive non-violent male role models working through different and difficult life circumstances while raising their kids and charges (or reconciling their relationship with them).

Inspired by the list of fabulous films about fathers below? Here’s how you can take action:

• If you are a Dad, download our mini interview for the 30 For 30 campaign, fill it in and email it to us at info@thepixelproject.net.
• If you have a Dad or father figure in your life whom you think would be a perfect candidate to be included in this campaign, send him the link to our campaign page and/or download the mini interview and get him to fill it in.

Deadline for submissions is 7 May 2012, so get cracking!

It’s time to stop violence against women. Together.

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Fantastic Film About Father Figures 1 – Field Of Dreams

“If you build it, they will come” – that is the otherworldly message that inspires Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) to construct a baseball diamond in the middle of his cornfield. This is ostensibly a film about second chances for those who have given up on the ‘unrealistic’ dreams of their youth. However, the theme of second chances also relates to Ray’s second chance to reconnect with his late father and to make the amends he didn’t make when the latter was alive – a poignant reminder of how short our time is on this earth and how precious a good relationship with our parents are.

Fantastic Film About Father Figures 2 – My Life

In My Life, Michael Keaton plays Bob Ivanovich, a young married man who discovers that he has terminal cancer soon after his wife gets pregnant. Knowing he won’t be around to raise his little boy, Bob uses the time he has left to record home movies of himself that his son can watch as he grows up. The videos range from Bob reading bedtime stories to Bob teaching his son skills like how to shave. As Bob approaches his death, he also begins to reconcile with his own father, with whom he has had a strained relationship.

Fantastic Film About Father Figures 3 – The Karate Kid

The Karate Kid (and its sequels and subsequent remake) has always centred around father-less kids learning to stand up for themselves when facing bullies… and they learn all this from the zen male role model and father figure, Mr Miyagi. While some may cringe at the Eastern stereotyping involved, Miyagi imparts many excellent non-violent values including hard work, controlling aggression, self-discipline, determination in the face of huge personal odds and believing in one’s abilities.

Fantastic Film About Father Figures 4: To Kill A Mockingbird

Any list of films about fathers would be remiss if it did not include To Kill A Mockingbird. Lawyer and social activist Atticus Finch is at the top of our list of the best fictional Dads ever and The American Film Institute called Finch the “greatest movie hero of the 20th century.” . As a widowed single dad, he is absolutely devoted and incredibly patient with his two kids, Jem and Scout, teaching them equality, courage, empathy, kindness, non-violence, integrity and strength of character by example at the point in their lives when they are most impressionable.

Fantastic Film About Father Figures 5: We Bought A Zoo

Cameron Crowe’s film about widower Benjamin Mee and his two kids and how they bought a run-down zoo as Mee handles with bereavement after the loss of his wife to cancer is one of the best family films of recent years. At the heart of the film is the relationship between Mee and his kids – rebellious Dylan and sunny Rosie – as they embark on a new chapter in their lives and recalibrate their family dynamics to cope with not having their mother around.