Brooklyn, NY July 20, 2012 — James William Ross IV (aka Tyra Sanchez) from Atlanta, GA is the winner of season two of popular reality TV show RuPaul’s Drag Race, where cross-dressing contestants compete for the title of best Drag Queen. What many of his fans don’t know is prior to the show, James was homeless, and at the age of 17 had a baby boy with his best friend. James says the birth of his son Jeremiah, who is about to turn seven next month, saved his life.
James and Jeremiah will be the subjects of the upcoming documentary film Drag Dad, which focuses on their unique father-son relationship.
In a recent interview on Los Angeles’ KTLA 5 Sunday Edition News, Tyra said of the film “I’m hoping it changes the ability for gay parents to adopt. I think gay parents are just like any other parents. We all love children; we all want children.”
Drag Dad director is Björn Flóki, a gay filmmaker who recently moved to Brooklyn from Iceland and is passionate about breaking down prejudices against gay families. He and his partner have been together for nine years, and in considering adoption have run into many obstacles themselves.
“We want to give audiences an in-depth look into the domestic life of one LGBT family, offering a rather ‘extreme’ representation of a gay parent, to show that gay parents are not so different from ‘regular parents’ when it comes to raising a child. Love and dedication to your child defies all labels. We have seen James and Jeremiah together, and the sweet nature of their relationship. We want to bring that relationship to the screen, and show that there is no one correct recipe for a good father.”
Björn and his production crew are based in Brooklyn, NY, where they filmed two nights with Tyra while she was on tour through the city. With this footage, they have put together a one-minute teaser and posted it to the film’s web site: www.dragdad.com.
To finish the film, the crew must raise enough money to travel from New York to James’ home in Atlanta to document this unique father-son story.
The filmmaker hopes to raise the money through an Internet service called Kickstarter, a web site that allows contributors to donate funds to the project in return for donation rewards such as: posters, picture books, Tyra memorabilia, tickets to the private premier and drag lessons from Tyra herself. If they do not reach their target goal of $16,000 by July 27 this month, they do not receive any of the donated funds, which are returned back to the pledgers.
You can visit the Kickstarter page and help contribute to the film at: www.kickstarter.com/projects/bjornfloki/drag-dad
The 1 min teaser trailer: vimeo.com/44896887
The official site: www.dragdad.com