Resident Dad Tracks Fatherhood Evolution

When Dana H. Glazer was a college student, the farthest thing from his mind was life as a family man.

"The idea of being married was such a foreign substance," the Ridgewood resident and filmmaker says. "It took a long time for me to get comfortable with that idea—let alone having children."

Today, not only has he become both a husband and father, he has made fatherhood the focus of his new film. The result—a documentary titled The Evolution of Dad.

In the film, Glazer explores what it means to be a father in modern American society and culture, and how that role has changed with the passing of time. To do so, he created the frame of the film by putting himself in it with his boys and their mother.

"This film is a first-person journey, a personal journey," Glazer said of the documentary that took him three years to create.

Using his own story as a father of two, Glazer navigates other dads' tales in the film. They span from those who stay at home and are very involved in their children's everyday lives, to the workaholics who are less present.

Glazer shot between 25 to 30 hours of footage that took him two months to edit into a rough cut. Such low numbers are nearly unheard of in the documentary filmmaking world, where preliminary editing can take a year. Glazer, however, knew what he wanted and needed to regale what he calls "the most untold story," and was determined to get just that.

The Evolution of Dad features interviews with experts on the topic of fatherhood, such as writers and professors, along with everyday people speaking about their own fathers or who are fathers themselves.

One of the most memorable dads in the film is Dallas Hayes, a Navy veteran, who left his job at a bank to take care of his son full-time, giving the boy's mother the opportunity to keep the job she loved so much. It is stories like these that provoke audiences to reexamine their preconceptions of fatherhood, and masculinity in general.

"This has been going on for a couple of hundred years, this idea that a man's worth is based on his paycheck," Glazer said.

Glazer's goal is to raise awareness by educating his audience and inspiring more of a balance between work and family for all fathers, present and future. 

"My hope is that this film will redefine Father's Day," Glazer said.

So what's next for the NYU Film School graduate, whose writing and directing has led him to work for the Sci-Fi Channel and HBO? Don't be surprised if The Evolution of Mom is the next film to be credited to his name, followed by The Evolution of Family.

The Evolution of Dad will be shown at the Ridgewood Public Library June 15, just days before the holiday.