Big Mama

An African American Grandmother Raising Her Grandson

BIG MAMA depicts a devoted grandmother's struggle to raise her orphaned grandson under the watchful eye of a complex and difficult social welfare system.

BIG MAMA follows 18 months in the lives of Viola Dees, an African American grandmother, and Walter, her grandson, as she tries to raise him alone in South Central Los Angeles. Dees has taken care of Walter since the age of four, when his father (Viola's son) died. Walter appears in the documentary as bright and sweetly loving to his grandmother, but also profoundly troubled, affected by his mother's prenatal drug intake. In the documentary, Walter is nine, and Dees is turning 90.

The film focuses on the continuous battle against age discrimination faced by Dees and many like her. While contending with her own declining health and a bureaucratic and legal system that continually threatens to force them apart, Dees fights the misconception that age supersedes one's ability to love and care for a child.

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

"Big Mama is a powerful film that brings to life the spirit and moral force of the millions of grandparents and other kin raising so many of our nation's children." - Marian Wright Edelman, Founder and President, Children's Defense Fund

"Viewers are left sharing Ms. Dees's hope that Walter will remember what she taught him." - The New York Times