''Teenage Father'' is a 1978 American

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

directed by

Taylor Hackford Taylor Edwin Hackford (born December 31, 1944) is an American film director and former president of the Directors Guild of America. He won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for '' Teenage Father'' (1979). Hackford went on to direct ...

and starring Timothy Wead. In 1979, it won an

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

for Best Short Subject at the

51st Academy Awards The 51st Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released in 1978 and took place on April 9, 1979, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles beginning at 7:00 p.m. ...

Plot

Filmed as a

pseudo-documentary A pseudo-documentary or fake documentary is a film or video production that takes the form or style of a documentary film but does not portray real events. Rather, scripted and fictional elements are used to tell the story. The pseudo-documentary, ...

, the film follows 17-year-old John Travis and 15-year-old Kim in the last few months of her pregnancy. The documentary filmmakers interview the couple as well as their friends and family about their perspectives on the matter. John is interested in adoption but Kim is more interested in keeping her child. In the final scene of the film the child has been born and John views his son in the nursery but by that point Kim is no longer speaking to him and does not let him visit her in her room, leaving John distraught about the future.

Cast

* Tim Wead as John *

Suzanne Crough Suzanne J. Crough (March 6, 1963 – April 27, 2015) was an American child actress best known for her role as Tracy Partridge on ''The Partridge Family''. Career On ''The Partridge Family'', a musical sitcom TV show which ran from 1970 to 1974, ...

as Kim * Ken Sansom as John's Father * Lette Rehnolds as John's Mother * Jeannie Dimter Barton Kim's Mother * Gary Mathew as Skip * Paul Wolff as Denny * Roland Meza as Roland * Wesley Thompson as Charlie * Denise Davis as Wanda * Devin Buchanan as Devin * Susan Cronkite as Social Worker

Production

The film was a public education film from Children's Home Society of California.Counseling Teenage Fathers : The "Maximizing a Life Experience" (MALE) Group. ERIC Digest.
/ref> Susan Cronkite, who plays the social worker in the film, was an actual social worker for Children's Home Society at the time of filming.

References

External links

*
MUBI
{{DEFAULTSORT:Teenage Father 1978 films 1978 short films 1978 independent films American independent films American short films Films directed by Taylor Hackford Films set in California Films shot in California Live Action Short Film Academy Award winners Teenage pregnancy in film 1970s English-language films 1970s American films