In a kindergarten classroom we meet Leo: an innocent young boy who dreams of playing with barbies, trying on dresses, and bending what the world has taught him a family is. When he and his best friend Kayly are alone, they experiment with these

desires freely, embodying what it means to be young, innocent, and joyful.

However, when Kayly’s father, Harvey– an aggressive construction worker who’s been recently fired– brings them home for a playdate, Leo is forced into hiding, conforming to Harvey ’s rigid idea of what it means to be a man and caretaker. As Harvey leaves the two kids alone to run an errand, Leo and Kayly are overtaken by excitement, forgetting about gender and the world entirely.

However, Harvey was all along leaving for a secret hookup with a man, Bruce… the only way Harvey can handle the stresses of his life. Bruce reveals to Harvey that he desires to know Harvey personally, but when Harvey refuses, Bruce lashes out at him and steals his phone. As a result, Harvey comes home late, unable to tell Kayly he’s on the way like usual.

Finding Leo in makeup and a dress, Harvey repeats the aggression from Bruce, asserting his worldview onto Leo. In order to feel safe, Leo continues to conform to Harvey as a male role model: Leo turns violent toward Kayly before delicately taking care of her… as Harvey cleans up the messes of the children, delicately putting the dresses away. 

With Pride Month around the corner, I've had a lot of my mind. About the state of this country, for obvious reasons, but especially how artists belonging to minority groups take trying times and create, create, create. Me? I'm bringing a beautiful script to life with the best team imaginable, and bringing a story out of the closest through my most beloved medium.

Queer identities have been highlighted in a multitude of different ways, but with this film, we wanted to highlight the people that exist among us, especially those we would never realize on our own if we didn't pay attention. This film is about a single, working class dad, who by suppressing so much self loathing unintentionally leaves a huge emotional imprint on his kid's male best friend. What does the rest of Leo's life look like now that he's been told at the age of 7 to hate himself? What will his relationships with women be?

What will his relationship with himself be when it comes time to love someone in that way?

When setting off to build the team and cast of this production, we wanted to give actors and creatives alike a platform and opportunity to do what they do best, in a space that allows them to do so. Your contributions would be funding dozens of artists to create music, sets, costumes, and more importantly capture the amazing artistry that our cast and producers have spent the past 6 months developing. We truly believe in putting the artist first, so please, if you are able share and donate to our this campaign, you won't regret it!

- Julia Hayden Fung, director

Leo embodies childhood innocence and exploration. Though he is far too young to understand traditional sexuality and gender roles, he still feels an inexplicable, overshadowing shame... Especially around Harvey, who he mistakes as a role model in order to fit in and feel safe.

Leo oscillates between these two sides of himself: the beautiful freedom of youth, and the pangs of never fitting into the world around him.

Fun-hearted and always excited, Kayly makes the perfect best friend for Leo. However, stuck with the busy, aggressive Harvey as her sole caretaker, Kayly inconstantly having to resolve intense situations and keep her true feelings hidden.

Openly girly and expressive, Kayly is everything Leo wants to be... yet, finds herself in constant struggles no little kid should have to go through...

Haunted by internalized homophobia, his hidden sexual life with men, and the need to take care of his daughter among economic hardship, Harvey is equally the antagonist of the film and victim of the same harms he himself commits towards Leo.

Aggressive yet caring, Harvey is perhaps a good person deep down, beaten down by the world to the point where he can’t help but to harm others in the process of surviving.

Not around my daughter is not necessarily based on my life, but tied importantly to it. It is universally experienced that as we grow up, we continually reach situations which force us into deciding between being our own person or imitating the strongest voice in the room. I see this story as a question of passing the torch – generation to generation, man to man – will Leo be Leo, or will Leo be Harvey? Of course, Harvey faced the same decision in his past, and still does. These characters reflect each other. In my view, the only thing that truly separates Leo and Harvey is time. My goal is to have empathy for all involved.

We live, by most standards, in the most LGBTQ+ accepting time in recent history; an acceptance which is constantly changing and redefining itself. The way that each current generation views the LGBTQ+ community varies miraculously. I find that LGBTQ+ stories, therefore, are both a timeless story of human nature and a chronicling of our current moment. Someone who is currently Leo’s age will probably grow up in a far more LGBTQ+ friendly culture than Harvey ever could have, but the damage Harvey has done will remain. This begs the question of what the LGBTQ+ community of our generation will take into their adulthood, how we will view sexuality differently, and how we will raise our children differently.

- Nolan Crane, writer/executive Producer

As a people-first project, the not around my daughter team is dedicated to paying our incredible cast and crew a living wage.

Following the rules and regulations of New York State and child actor laws, we are dedicated to have an on-set Studio Teacher and Safety Officer to insure that we are following all rules and regulations.

Being a SAG-AFTRA Short Project Agreement, our film is dedicated to abide by industry standards and be a leading example in ethics and safety for independent filmmaking.

And of course, financing a project that is carefully curated is never easy. Gear, locations, equipment trucks, catering, post-production, and festivals are all components of the production that sneak up on you. We can assure you that every last penny will be used wisely on the project, to ensure that our story is told in its impactful essence while prioritizing the safety of our cast and crew.

By supporting not around my daughter, you are contributing to independent cinema dedicated to authentically innovative storytelling with an ethical foundation.

Go learn more about our incredible crew in the team section! When you're contributing to not around my daughter, you're backing filmmakers who know the ropes. With dozens of years and training combined, our leading team is powerfully passionate about the medium of film, and are ready to tell this poignant story. The question is, are you ready?