Documentary “The Dads” Highlights Maine’s Role in Film About Fathers of Trans Kids

“The Dads,” a feature-length documentary that premiered at South by Southwest in March 2026, follows several fathers of transgender and gender-expansive children as they fish, discuss their hopes and fears, and appear at protests. The film opens with the fathers on a fishing trip at Buckhorn Camps on Middle Jo-Mary Lake, west of Millinocket, Maine, and continues with footage of the men traveling across the United States over roughly a year. The 70-minute documentary will screen at the Maine International Film Festival in Waterville on July 9 and July 15, 2026, and the filmmakers hope for broader television distribution.

Portland Press-Herald

Wayne Maines, a former Maine resident and director of health, safety and sustainability at Stanford University, became an activist after his daughter, actress and trans-rights advocate Nicole Maines, was barred from a girls’ bathroom at her elementary school in Orono in 2007. The ensuing lawsuit reached the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, which ruled in 2014 that her rights had been violated. Nicole Maines, now based in California, appears in the film and has spoken publicly about its goals. Stephen Chukumba of Trenton, New Jersey, serves as executive director of The Dads Foundation, a group founded by the fathers and a co-producer of the documentary. The short-form version of “The Dads,” filmed during a 2022 wilderness trip in Oklahoma, aired on Netflix and earned a Daytime Emmy award.

Portland Press-Herald

Filmmaker Luchina Fisher, who first documented the 2022 fishing trip, directed the feature and collaborated with The Dads Foundation. The project expands on the Emmy-winning short, which featured Dennis Shepard, father of Matthew Shepard, a victim of a 1998 hate crime. The new film has already played at festivals worldwide, and Maines hopes television broadcast will extend its reach.

Portland Press-Herald

The fathers aim to counter narratives that portray parents of gender-expansive children as abusive. By presenting relatable scenes of fishing and family life, they seek to encourage viewers to “listen to their hearts” and create safer environments for trans youth.

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• “My hope for the film is that the good people in Maine and beyond might listen to their hearts and open their minds to new things, new roles, and help us create a safe space for our children,” — Wayne Maines, father of Nicole Maines

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• “We hope that people can see themselves in these fathers,” — Stephen Chukumba, executive director, The Dads Foundation

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• “Our goal is to push back, one story at a time, on these really damaging narratives about parents of gender expansive children as somehow abusing their children, or mutilating their children.” — Stephen Chukumba

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• “Every day (transgender children) hear that people fear them, that they have no hope for a good future.” — Nicole Maines, actress and activist

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