'Absent' Featuring METALLICA Frontman To Be Released On DVD

According to the Rockville Music Magazine, the award-winning documentary "Absent", exploring the worldwide crisis of absent and disengaged fathers and the negative impact that the "father wound" makes on society, will be released on DVD on September 5. The disc will contain the full-length documentary including extensive interview footage with METALLICA frontman James Hetfield with bonus features such as the question-and-answer sessions Hetfield and filmmaker Justin Hunt took part in at the San Rafael and Mesa screenings of the movie. Also included is Hetfield and Hunt March 30, 2011 appearance on the Fox News channel program "Fox & Friends" and a special announcement from boxer Johnny Tapia made at the world premiere screening of "Absent".

Hunt will autograph the first 2500 DVDs sold through the movie's web site.

Hetfield discussed his involvement with "Absent" in an interview with Rockville Music Magazine on March 3, just before the film screened at the San Rafael California Film Institute in San Rafael, California. In the film, which deals with the issue of absent or disengaged fathers, Hetfield recounts his own experience of having his father abandon his family when the future rock legend was 13 years old.

Now a father of three himself, Hetfield says that he himself has come a long way from the time in 2001 when he missed his son's birthday because he was on a drunken hunting trip in Russia. He told the magazine that never happens anymore, explaining, "We'll pull them from school and fly them to Lisbon or fly them to Philly, or wherever it is, so the kids gets to celebrate with their Pops."

Hetfield added about becoming a father, "I thought I'd better start reading some books on how to be dad. I started to get mad. My dad didn't teach me to do this or this . . . There was a lot of resentment that came from fear. And I figured out they don't need all of that. They don't need the instructions. They need guidance. They need love. They need you to be there, simple as that."

Hetfield said there was a pivotal moment when he realized what kind of father he wanted to be for his kids: "Just sitting with the kids and just realizing, 'You know what? I don't have to do anything else. I don't have to show up for this gig. I don't have to, you know, I can be late for this. All that shit can go away. All I have to do is just sit here with my kids, and that is fine.'"

Hetfield and Hunt did a question-and-answer session with the audience after the San Rafael screening of "Absent", with Hetfield staying an extra hour and a half to sign autographs and talk with fans.

For more information and to pre-order the DVD, visit www.absentmovie.com.