Sunshine, which premiered at Austin's SXSW Film Festival in 2009, is a compelling examination of how our concepts of single motherhood are changing. Director Karen Skloss cleverly compares her own experience as a single mother who chose to raise her child on her own with the cooperation of her former boyfriend with her mother's experience a generation before. Her mother was sent to a home for unwed mothers and gave her up for adoption in a society that had no space for the "unwed" mother. Her film capturing their parallel journeys is really an examination of social change as our society has become both more permissive and more open-minded. The documentary is surprisingly non-judgmental and lets the characters tell their stories without anger or animosity. The filming is done lovingly and thoughtfully and a single family's story is allowed to act as a barometer for examining the transformation of the broader American family. This is a wonderful film for educating people to gain a better understanding of single motherhood. Hopefully, it will gain a wider audience.
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