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Gayby Baby is a 2015 Australian documentary film directed by Maya Newell that follows four children raised by same-sex parents.Gayby Baby observes the lives of four children—Gus, Ebony, Matt and Graham—whose parents are either gay or lesbian,[1] and explores the ways in which growing up as a "gayby" has affected them.[2]Gayby Baby was produced over three and a half years.[2] It was conceived and directed by Maya Newell, who was raised by lesbian mothers and felt that, in the same-sex marriage debate in the Australian media, "no one was actually talking to any kids".[3] She chose to address the topic of LGBT parenting from an observational perspective without entering the political debate around the issue, so that the film "addresses people's questions about that, but in a very non-political way because we're just watching this kid's life".[2][3] Newell also intended for the film to be an educational resource for teachers, so that they would be better equipped to answer children's questions about same-sex parenting and to address bullying of children with gay or lesbian parents.[2] The idea for the film originated from a short documentary, Growing Up Gayby, filmed by Newell for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 2013.[1]The families featured in the film were cast from around Australia; the filmmakers considered 30–40 children before selecting four 11–12-year-olds and their families. Newell approached one of the families and asked them to appear in the film after seeing a photograph of them in a newspaper.[4]The film's funding was raised through a crowdfunding campaign and government grants.[1] The filmmakers advertised the project on Pozible, a crowdfunding website, in 2012; it raised A$118,375 from 1244 people, which at the time was the highest number of supporters for a film campaign on the website.[5] In October 2014, Newell pitched the film to financiers at Good Pitch Australia, where it received $180,000 in pledges from the Safe Schools Coalition, the Foundation for Young Australians, the Australian Primary Principals Association and the Sydney Film Festival.[2]The world premiere of Gayby Baby was held on 29 April 2015 at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto.[6] The film premiered in Australia at the Sydney Film Festival in June 2015[7] and will be released theatrically in September 2015.[4]