144
Feminist Media Histories, Vol. 11, Number 2, pps. 144–165. electronic issn: 2373-7492 © 2025 by the
Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission
to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press’s Reprints and
Permissions web page, https://online.ucpress.edu/journals/pages/reprintspermissions. DOI: https://
doi.org/10.1525/fmh.2025.11.2.144
S TOPIARY LANDBERG
In the Best Interests of the Children
A Case Study of “Useful” Lesbian Film as Propaganda
ABSTRACT This essay concerns the documentary In the Best Interests of the Children
(1977) by the feminist collective Iris Films about lesbian mothers fighting to retain cus-
tody of their children in the 1970s. Comparing the original concept of the film, as a tool
for education and social change, to its recent reemergence as a “forgotten” chapter of
LGBTQ+ history, the article demonstrates the fluidity of useful film across time. Work-
ing with the personal papers of Frances Reid/Iris Films, and interviews with Reid and
her “stepdaughter” Julie Stevens, this article provides a personal, contemporary queer
account of discovery that highlights the film’s aesthetic approach as lesbian propaganda
while expanding presumptions about this “nontheatrical” feminist film. The article is
accompanied by a video essay with clips from the film, production stills, archival docu-
ments, and filmed encounters with Frances Reid and Julie Stevens. KEYWORDS lesbian
feminist documentary, Iris Films, In the Best Interests of the Children, Frances Reid, lesbian
motherhood, Lesbian Custody, LGBTQ+ history, queer California
Video Essay. “Lesbian Custody” by Samuael Topiary Landberg, co-directed with
M. Francis Skonieczny.