Credence

Two fathers face the heartbreaking necessity of sending their young daughter away to safety in director Mike Buonaiuto's short film "Credence."

The movie, written by Jamie Thompson, is, generally speaking, science fiction; an asteroid has hit the Moon, and lunar debris has already destroyed major cities (like London, where the two dads used to live before fleeing to the countryside with their daughter). But a larger problem looms -- literally, as the Moon has been knocked out of its orbit and is approaching the Earth. The expected collision will wipe out all life on Earth. The only hope is to bundle up as many kids as possible and send them off into space in hopes of landing them safely on another habitable planet.

The film doesn't have time (or narrative interest) in dwelling on the technical points. (For instance -- what planet? How will they get there? Surely not on the 1970s-era rockets we see lifting off in stock footage that's been spliced into he movie?) With anther hour or so, the movie might tackle those issues, but the 29-minute running time means that "Credence" stays tightly focused on the family drama playing out against the sci-fi setting.

Anthony Topham and Alex Hammond play the same-sex couple, and they sell the movie's themes of fierce parental love and existential sadness from the first scene, in which the couple meet with a man named Taylor (writer Jamie Thompson). The transaction is financial in nature (although, again, this is an idea one wishes could have been further explored: Just who is planning to spend the money, and on what, and when? Such questions matter when the end of the world is at hand). Because the two dads don't have enough money to pay for the trip, they are forced to resort to payment of a different kind. But how much can they part with, even in the name of buying their daughter a fighting chance at survival?

Tia Kenny plays daughter Ellie, and the young actress brings a natural sweetness to the screen. She's adorable, even when she's being demanding: In one tender exchange, as she's being tucked into bed, she insists that a doll representing herself be put snugly in between a teddy bear and an action figure, which represent her two fathers. It would be easy to over-stuff the film with such moments, and make it saccharine; Thompson's script avoids this pitfall, while Buonaiuto's direction plays down sentiment in order to emphasize the ordinary and everyday nature of the relationships.

Buonaiuto's director keeps to that same tack when it comes to the film's palette of emotions: Anger, heartbreak, terror -- it all registers, and aside from an occasional moment of over-acting the film mages to reign it in and allow for glimpses of the characters' turmoil rather than going over the top.

Existential threat is nothing new for same-sex families, of course. We don't have to wait for the Moon to crash down to know what it feels like for our homes, our marriages, and our children to be threatened by forces external to our cherished human relationships. "Credence" is a production of Shape History, which is "a creative agency advocating for social change." One channel for such advocacy is to tell stories that touch the heart while informing the mind. "Credence" fulfills both aims.

American audiences may find this film especially timely, with Republican presidential hopefuls tripping over themselves to promise renewed legal attacks on our rights. But we've also developed an ability to celebrate, and appreciate, our families -- even when it seems like the sky is falling. This is a film that will resonate powerfully with GLBT viewers, and maybe give straight audiences an inkling that, hey, we can -- and do -- love as deeply and as selflessly as anyone else.

"Creence" is now available on Vimeo. For more information, please visit http://www.shapehistory.com/Credence/?utm_source=Credence&utm_campaign=Blood+Punch&utm_medium=email