"Who Killed My Father?" documentary film fund
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“Who Killed My Father?" follows a daughter investigating the fate of her estranged father, starting at the San Antonio homeless shelter where he spent the last years of his life. Her journey to understand his tragic end sheds light on the mental illness that destroyed their home and what work is being done to make things better.
I am that daughter. The man in the mural outside Haven for Hope was my father.
He died in 2017 and it fell to me to disperse his ashes, but something has been holding me back. I need to tell his story.
The story of the battle he inevitably lost against the illness that tore his life and family apart.
In this film we will hear from those who knew my father in his final years. We will also hear from mental health experts, sociologists, mutual aide coordinators and activists, as well as those who have lived on the streets. Together, these will paint an unflinching portrait of the daily realities that exist within our communities and what real help would require from us all.
You'll also hear from me. What it was like to be homeless as a child. As a teenager, to go searching homeless shelters for my father. About a childhood torn apart by nightmarish abuse that might've been avoided. About an adulthood haunted by guilt over the father I couldn't help.
When I learned of my father's death, I sank into a deep depression that I've never fully recovered from. Even though our relationship was estranged, I had some peculiar hope that one day he would rebound, recover, resurface from the deep delusion he was in. That he would do what it took to repair our family. That we would have a home. It was a hope I didn't even realize I was harboring until it ended, when his life ended.
Now, my hope is to find the answers which eluded me during his life. Could this all have been prevented? What can we do differently - before homes are lost and lives destroyed? Not just in his story, but in the way we engage with the same struggles as individuals, as communities, and as a nation. That we, as a culture, can stop making the same mistakes and paying the same price each time.
I am asking you, from the absolute bottom of my heart, to help me tell his story. I can't do it alone.
This fundraiser will not cover the full costs of making this film. The consensus in documentary filmmaking is that it takes $1k per minute of screen time. This is the cost to capture the principle interviews and supplementary footage that will be the foundation upon which the rest of the documentary is built. All proceeds from this fund will go directly to generating and procuring content for this film. Like any good producer, I will stretch it as far as it will go without sacrificing the quality of the content.
If you have any questions you can feel free to contact me, I would be happy to answer them and share my production plans with you.
If you would like to contribute in a way that is not monetary - please message me. Money is always needed, but there is a lot more help I could use than just the funding.
This is the hardest story I will ever tell, but I am ready.
With your help, we can find hope from the ashes.
Thank you.
I am that daughter. The man in the mural outside Haven for Hope was my father.
He died in 2017 and it fell to me to disperse his ashes, but something has been holding me back. I need to tell his story.
The story of the battle he inevitably lost against the illness that tore his life and family apart.
In this film we will hear from those who knew my father in his final years. We will also hear from mental health experts, sociologists, mutual aide coordinators and activists, as well as those who have lived on the streets. Together, these will paint an unflinching portrait of the daily realities that exist within our communities and what real help would require from us all.
You'll also hear from me. What it was like to be homeless as a child. As a teenager, to go searching homeless shelters for my father. About a childhood torn apart by nightmarish abuse that might've been avoided. About an adulthood haunted by guilt over the father I couldn't help.
When I learned of my father's death, I sank into a deep depression that I've never fully recovered from. Even though our relationship was estranged, I had some peculiar hope that one day he would rebound, recover, resurface from the deep delusion he was in. That he would do what it took to repair our family. That we would have a home. It was a hope I didn't even realize I was harboring until it ended, when his life ended.
Now, my hope is to find the answers which eluded me during his life. Could this all have been prevented? What can we do differently - before homes are lost and lives destroyed? Not just in his story, but in the way we engage with the same struggles as individuals, as communities, and as a nation. That we, as a culture, can stop making the same mistakes and paying the same price each time.
I am asking you, from the absolute bottom of my heart, to help me tell his story. I can't do it alone.
This fundraiser will not cover the full costs of making this film. The consensus in documentary filmmaking is that it takes $1k per minute of screen time. This is the cost to capture the principle interviews and supplementary footage that will be the foundation upon which the rest of the documentary is built. All proceeds from this fund will go directly to generating and procuring content for this film. Like any good producer, I will stretch it as far as it will go without sacrificing the quality of the content.
If you have any questions you can feel free to contact me, I would be happy to answer them and share my production plans with you.
If you would like to contribute in a way that is not monetary - please message me. Money is always needed, but there is a lot more help I could use than just the funding.
This is the hardest story I will ever tell, but I am ready.
With your help, we can find hope from the ashes.
Thank you.
Organizer
Valerie Astra Powers
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA