MOMMY OR DADDY? is a film about loneliness and one mother’s journey toward connection by facing her demons and discovering her purpose and destiny. Three million children in Japan are thought to have lost access to their parents over the past three decades. These children of divorce had no voice…until now.
What if you lived in a world where at the slightest sign of trouble in your marriage, you would have to kidnap your own children away from your partner. Otherwise, you may never see them again…that’s the reality in Japan. One day you come home to an empty house. Your partner, kids, furniture, everything is gone, vanished….and nothing will ever be the same again.
Every year, over 150 thousand children are separated and lose access to their parents. Japan is one of the only developed nations without joint custody and no laws against taking children away from your partner. Parents who take their own children away from their partner are nearly always awarded custody because the Japanese court considers it in the best interest of the children.
That’s because they have been living with that parent during the custody battle period in court and therefore must be in a stable environment. That means whoever abducts their children first, wins sole custody and can even determine if the non-custodial parent can have visitation.
Japanese government figures show that over 70 percent of non-custodial parents have no access to their children post-divorce. The other 30 percent are only given visitation once a month as the best case scenario, many only see their children 3 or 4 times a year.
Until now, many Japanese parents wouldn’t fight the system that has gone on for centuries but non-custodial parents have been suing the courts for access to their children.
Japan is known for cute characters like Mario, Hello Kitty, and Totoro, but there is a darker side. Annually, over 150 thousand children of divorce are forcibly separated from their parent. ‘Mommy or Daddy’ explores the deep scars brought on by alienation and one mother’s journey to overcome her trauma from isolation. MOMMY OR DADDY? On digital platforms.
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