Lesbian Custody

Directed by Samuael Topiary and Molly Skonieczny

United States | 2013 | 18 minutes | English | Order No. W251323

Giving access to a forgotten chapter of queer history and their own shared past, retired filmmaker Frances Reid and her stepdaughter Julie Stevens revisit Reid’s groundbreaking 1977 documentary IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF CHILDREN, about lesbian mothers fighting for custody of their children.

SYNOPSIS

LESBIAN CUSTODY (dir. Samuel Topiary) explores the personal and political legacy of IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF CHILDREN (1977), a groundbreaking lesbian feminist documentary distributed by Women Make Movies that gave voice to mothers fighting for custody of their children in the face of rampant homophobia. Nearly fifty years later, filmmaker Frances Reid — one of the film’s original creators — reconnects with Julie Stevens, the daughter of Reid’s late partner and co-director Liz Stevens.


Together, Frances and Julie revisit the film’s archives, revealing an era when coming out as a lesbian could mean losing your family, your livelihood, and your children. As they reflect on their pasts and the struggles of lesbian mothers and the children caught in the middle, LESBIAN CUSTODY intertwines personal memory with the collective history of a movement determined to redefine family and justice.


Part archival excavation, part intimate reunion, LESBIAN CUSTODY captures a conversation across generations, between a filmmaker and a child of the movement, about what was lost, what endures, and why this forgotten history of lesbian motherhood still matters today.

PRESS

As a nearly forgotten period of LGBTQ+ history, this documentary short introduces us to now retired filmmaker Frances Reid and her “step-daughter” Julie Stevens while they look through the film’s archives, discuss the making of the film and their personal relationship.

Frameline

It explores Julie’s separation from her mother — who was, at the time, Reid’s partner — after coming out as lesbian and facing a custody battle. Blending archival footage with hindsight’s poignancy, it offers a layered historical perspective on queer family struggles and the fight for parental rights.

Beandrea July CLA, Film and Television Archives

SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS

  • Frameline49, 2025
  • Santa Cruz Film Festival, 2025
  • CAFILM Pride, 2025

ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)

Samuel Topiary

Samuel Topiary is a media artist, writer, film curator, and educator. Her research and creative practice focuses on environmental, feminist, queer, and urban studies media practices. Her writing has been published in Feminist Media Histories, Camera Obscura, Film Quarterly, JCMS, Millennium Film Journal, and included in collection Reclaiming Popular Documentary (Indiana UP, 2021). She is the co-host and co-producer of the limited series documentary film podcast Animal-Vegetable-Mineral. Her short film Lesbian Custody (2025) was presented at the UCLA Film & Television Archive and premiered at Frameline’s SF Int’l LGBTQ Film Festival.

Topiary’s multimedia performances and film installations have been presented in theaters, art galleries, and museums including at Southern Exposure, Threadwaxing Space, the Lab, Abrons Arts Center, Dixon Place, PS122, the Oakland Museum of California, and in many film festivals across the US and abroad including Image+Nation, the New York Video Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, MIX/NYC, MIX/Brazil, The New Fest, Paris Lesbian Film Festival, and Vancouver Underground Film Festival. In the ‘90s, Topiary toured with the infamous spoken word circle Sister Spit. She is the recipient of a MacDowell fellowship, and has an MFA in Film/Video from the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College and a theory/practice PhD in Film & Digital Media at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She currently lectures at UC Santa Cruz and works in the film programming department of the Mill Valley Film Festival. (11/5)

Molly Skonieczny

Molly Skonieczny is a filmmaker and art director with over two decades of experience whose work explores underrepresented histories and communities through documentary and commercial media. Over the past fifteen years, she has co-founded and directed Tolleson's Photo and Video department, where her extensive portfolio encompasses the direction, editing, and production of short documentaries, multimedia campaigns, and art installations for enterprises of varying scales alongside long-term collaborations with artists, filmmakers, and musicians. Her practice seamlessly bridges independent artistic pursuits with commercial work, bringing a commitment to authentic storytelling across all projects. She holds a BFA in Graphic Design from California College of the Arts and lives and works in Oakland, CA and Brooklyn, NY. (11/5)

Directed by Samuael Topiary & Molly Skonieczny 

Participants include Frances Reid & Julie Stevens 

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