Perth Voice Interactive

DOCUMENTARY maker Justin Hunt says society is sitting on a time bomb—a generation of youngsters who’ll struggle into adulthood because their fathers bailed.

Hunt says it’s a modern dilemma, as previous generations usually had extended families and close-knit communities to fill the gap left by absent fathers.

“You show me a person that is angry, violent, depressed, selfish, sexually immoral, hyper-driven, or one of several other personality types, and I’ll show you a father wound,” the former US journalist says.

He explores the phenomenon in his award-winning documentary Absent, which is about to tour Australia. It’s at the Perth Christian Life Centre on June 29 at 1pm.

Local father of seven David Mazzotti, a delivery driver for the Voice, is part of charity group Dads4kids which is sponsoring Hunt’s tour.

“Just walk into any of our detention centres and ask the juveniles how many of them have good relations with their dad (if they even have one),” Mr Mazzotti says.

“There is a crisis in fathering here in Oz and many other western countries.”

While Hunt and Dads4Kids are admittedly churchy, the filmmaker says Absent is not a religious film—although he did tell his Facebook fans “God is good” after picking up best documentary at the prestiigous Marbella International Film Festival in Spain.

Metallica fans will enjoy the metal legends’ frontman James Hetfield’s interview in which he details the hatred he bore for his father, who abandoned him leaving nothing but a note, which was written to someone else.

by STEVE GRANT