Mischievous and precocious 13-year-old Max reluctantly agrees to serve as best man at his father Harry’s second wedding, even though the bride is the woman with whom his father had an affair—an infidelity that contributed to his parents’ divorce. Asked to stand beside his father and celebrate a marriage that Max sees as the reason his own family was torn apart, he struggles with feelings of betrayal, anger, and divided loyalty between his parents. As the wedding day unfolds, those emotions become impossible to contain, and when Max makes an irreversible mistake, he is forced into a confrontation with his father that brings their unresolved hurt—and the consequences of Harry’s choices—to the surface.

The key to the visuals of the film is to create a complex, yet subtle depiction of Max’s journey. We want to create scenes and sequences that unconsciously affect the viewer in a way that will enhance their overall experience of the characters and story. Evan Appel, Cinematographer

Project Mission

At Mandalay Productions, we believe film is more than entertainment—it is a powerful medium for empathy, understanding, and meaningful conversation. Divorce can reshape the foundation of a family, changing not only the relationship between two parents but also a child’s sense of stability, trust, and belonging. Young people are often caught between the emotions and decisions of the adults around them, carrying questions, loyalties, and disappointments they may not yet know how to express. Through the eyes of an adolescent boy confronting his father’s remarriage, Family Fiction explores these emotional fractures and the lasting impact that broken trust, infidelity, and separation can have on family unity.

Family Fiction was created to give a voice to the children who experience these changes from the inside, while encouraging audiences to see family conflict from more than one perspective. Blending elements of truth and fiction, the film examines the difficult realities behind divorce and remarriage without reducing its characters to heroes or villains. Its purpose is not to assign blame, but to remind us that people are complicated, relationships are imperfect, and life is rarely black and white. By bringing these emotions to the screen, we hope to encourage greater honesty, compassion, and understanding within families—and to remind parents that the choices they make can leave a lasting imprint on the children they love.