‘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’
Justin Hunt began his career in journalism while in high school in Bloomfield, New Mexico. As a senior, Hunt was given the United States Journalism Association’s award for the best high school newspaper story in the nation. From there, after a short stint in print journalism, his focus turned to broadcasting.
Accolades and awards abounded, including becoming, at 23 years old, the youngest news director in the country.
Hunt would win more than 40 Associated Press and New Mexico Broadcaster’s Awards, including the prestigious “News Reporter of the Year Award,” three times.
In 2004, he left television after establishing his production company, Time & Tide Productions. Over the next few years, Hunt created hundreds of video productions, most notably “Dream Home Drive,” a real estate program that aired statewide in New Mexico on CBS.
In 2007, he finished American Meth, a documentary dealing with the meth epidemic in our country. Narrated by Val Kilmer, it has won numerous film festivals around the country, including the Cinema City International Film Festival at Universal Studios. In 2008, the movie was released on dvd and was one of the most rented documentaries of the year. In 2009, it hit cable networks in the U.S. and Canada. In 2010, American Meth was picked up by Cox, Comcast, and Time Warner Cable networks, where it is currently on their Video on Demand menus in over 50 million homes. It’s also among the “All Time Favorites” on Hulu and has been viewed over a quarter of a million times on YouTube since April of last year. It also reached number 11 in the documentary category on iTunes last week.
In the fall of 2008, Justin was sent to Washington D.C. by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson as part of a 10-person team to attend a national meth conference. In June of 2011, Hunt was awarded the National Institute on Drug Abuse, or NIDA’s, National Media Award for his work on American Meth. Last year’s winner of that award was the Dean of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University.
He is now touring the globe with his latest film, Absent, a documentary about the impact of disengaged fathers. It includes interviews with people ranging from prostitutes and inner-city high school kids to world champion boxer Johnny Tapia, Christian author John Eldredge, and James Hetfield, front man for Metallica. Hunt’s interview with Hetfield, one of the most recognizable figures in rock-and-roll history, has been called the “greatest Hetfield interview ever captured on film, and the new bar for every METALLICA interview from here on out.” The movie has been accepted to 15 festivals in six countries, including South Africa, Egypt, Spain, Germany ,and England, and the 26th Boston Film Festival, which takes only 40 feature films out of over 1200 submissions. It won “Best Documentary” at the Marbella Int’l Film Festival in Spain, “Best Documentary” at the Thanet Int’l Film Festival in England, and was one of three finalists for “Best Documentary” at the Radar Hamburg Film Festival in Germany. It recently won “Best Documentary” at both the TriMedia Film Festival in Fort Collins, Colorado and the Southern Winds Film Festival in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
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The Need
“The father wound is so deep and so all-pervasive in so many parts of the world that its healing could well be the most radical social reform conceivable.” My friend, Father Richard Rohr, wrote that. Not only here in the West, but across the globe, disengaged fathers are leaving a mark that will forever reshape the future of our planet. You show me a person who is angry, violent, depressed, selfish, sexually immoral, hyper-driven, or one of several other personality types, and I’ll show you a father wound. Nothing is more important to a young man, or a young woman, than a father’s love, respect and acceptance. And nothing is more damaging than when the question “Am I good enough?” is asked of the father by the child, and the answer is silence.
Justin is the single father of two children, a 10-year-old son and eight-year-old daughter, and this is the driving force behind his work. He, like most “Good Men,” hopes to make a difference in the world in and the lives of his children.
The trailer to Absent, as well as the DVD trailer, are here. Help spread the word. In the coming months, we hope to bring much more of Justin, Absent, and news of the difference it is making in the world. You can contact Justin directly to arrange a screening.
Trailer:
Trailer for DVD:
Men being “sexually immoral” is not restricted to men. I have only my experience and current belief about this to share. When a man is unwilling to take responsibility for his “seed,” the act of planting it in a woman is “immoral.” Sex ain’t secular – it’s sacred. Thanks.
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Alan, Thanks for your comments . The Good Men Project would likely want to hear more about your story as Im sure Justin Hunt would. I will connect with you on G+ and we can talk more about it the first of next week. We appreciate you sharing this with us and for the work you do on behalf of Men and Fathers
Be well, –Jack.
Wow! What GREAT work you are doing!! With a humble, TMI warning: I appreciate some of the concerns mentioned on this thread, but I do not see your effort as an “slut-shamey” thing at all, nor a neglecting-the-moms component; it really seems all inclusive with support for fathers to be all they can be for the well being their CHILDREN to be developmentally healthy in what they may do with their lives. It is an awareness for dads to not abdicate their responsibilities in being a good and present father. That’s a GREAT thing for moms! I truly think this… Read more »
The quote at the top that includes ‘sexually immoral’ gives me a bad feeling
how so?
What are we defining as sexual immorality? Feels a bit slut-shamey, unless we’re talking about cheating in the context of a monogamous relationship or something. But given that the quote comes from a guy with the tag ‘Father,’ I’m betting it has more to do with promiscuity.
or maybe homosexuality
it has more to do with finding validation through sexual activity more than anything. instead of respecting and appreciating the act that it was intended to be, ‘sexually immoral’, in this context, is geared more towards someone simply using it as a way to affirm themselves and bandage an insecurity, which can often show itself as the end result of a father wound.
Well said…sad but true (whoa, a little James Hetfield for you)…
The documentary sounds amazing. But is a father wound worse than a mother wound?
Hi Pauline, I won’t presume to speak for Justin but I do know from speaking to him there is no intent to make comparisons of one over the other but a very micro focused attempt to address an issue that has been proven more valid recently than it was given credit for in the past. I am sure there are all types of additional factors that could be thrown into the mix like poverty, gender of the child and on and on. My own experience lends credibility to the premise but seeing the look on the faces in the trailers,… Read more »
Father wounds, mother wounds. Parent wounds.
How do you think this plays out in gay or lesbian parenting? Does it?
Lovely article.