Absent Father Letters Continue to Roll In

It really is one of the more heart-wrenching sections you will find on any current documentary film website. Titled, simply, “Write Your Father,” it encourages viewers of the documentary Absent to share what they want to say to their departed, estranged dads.

Although the film is available on DVD, it continues to screen around the country. Up next is a January 20th showing in Canton, Ohio. Here is the first paragraph of a recent January 15th website visitor:

Dear Dad,

I hate you. I love you for no good reason, but I hate you more. It takes all of my being to admit to all out hate. But it is there, loud and clear, ringing in my ears and banging like a headache behind my eyes. I want to tell you so badly too. But somewhere deep inside, I have a strange amount of left over, or required love for you. I don’t want to hurt you physically, but I do want to damage your psyche for years to come if I can possibly do the damage you’ve done to me back. I spend way to much time thinking about when you are sick and dying, how I will lay into you. I want to wait until you are in pain so badly that you cannot speak back, and then I will let you know how I’ve always felt. I hate you.

Director (and single father) Justin Hunt interviewed a number of recognizable people for the film, including Metallica guitarist James Hetfield, Christian author John Eldredge and world-class boxer Johnny Tapia. Once an award-winning journalist, Hunt jumped into the documentary fray with his 2007 debut American Meth, narrated by Val Kilmer.

Absent has won Best Documentary prizes at the Marbella International Film Festival in Spain, England's Thanet International Film Festival, the TriMedia Film Festival in Fort Collins, Colorado and the Southern Winds Film Festival in Shawnee, Oklahoma.

[Absent]