3500+ Films - 2.5 million words – 1 million viewers! Founder and Curator Carmela selects some of our most entertaining, powerful and inspiring short and feature length documentary and drama about Mothers at We Are Moving Stories. These include films that confound stereotypes, global, family, postnatal depression, expectations, surrogacy - and no kids for me.
Total length of this section: 28 films.
<CONFOUNDING STEREOTYPES>
Kickboxing Mama - The origin story of Kickboxing Mama: New mom releases hormone-fueled superstrength on baby-waking neighbor. 7.32 minutes. Writer/Producer Alexandra Bromstad Lubenova:
“Kickboxing Mama fuses my crazy love of action movies with my very real experiences as a new mother. The inspiration for the script came from a moment when I came dangerously close to unleashing some major Jason Bourne, Batman level shit on my neighbor for waking up my baby.”
Supermom - A daughter thinks her mother is a real life super hero - and she might be right.
Length: 14.34 minutes. Writer/Director Jason Honeycutt:
“ I made “Supermom” for a variety of reasons, but primarily it is rooted in the theme that a woman can do anything a man can do. Also, I am a father of two daughters and I always tell them how strong they can be, how they can do anything and I wanted them to see that heroes can look like them - so I made a film they can hopefully be proud of.”
Mommy Heist - Three moms and a baby rob a jewelry store to save their families from financial ruin. Length: 13 minutes. Writer-director Anna Gutto and producer Marion Cecinas:
“I wanted to put a comedic twist on all the challenges and crazy circumstances you encounter while figuring out life with a baby in New York City. My own challenge was to make it through film school at Columbia with a newborn. Frankly, it would’ve been easier to rob a bank. And there came the idea for the film.”
Lady Hunters - “Once upon a time three mothers killed a wolf.” Three best friends on a moms’ weekend retreat learn a heinous gang rapist has been released from prison nearby. Incensed by the atrocious nature of the crime against a teenaged girl, and incarceration of only one of the perpetrators, the women find themselves novice killers and arbiters of justice. Length: 15.33 minutes. Writer, director, producer, co-star Angela Atwood:
“A few universal themes are at work: Good vs. Evil, Individual vs. Society, Crime Doesn’t Pay … and my personal favorite, Over-coming the Odds. The mom-friends overcome apathy and their own aversion to violence in order to avenge an unpunished rape in their community.”
<GLOBAL>
Macdella - A 40-year-old single mother returns to her homeland of Liberia to run for President. In a country torn by war, disease, and corruption, she perseveres against her 19 male opponents, including the father of her youngest child. Length: 9.19 minutes. Director Aliya Naumoff:
“I met MacDella Cooper in the fall of 2016 at a dinner in her favorite restaurant in New York City. MacDella was enthusiastically beginning her campaign for president in her home country of Liberia. A couple of her friends from the U.N. joined us and everyone was excited about her upcoming campaign. MacDella’s story and perseverance amazed me. I was inspired by her fearless bold confidence. I was moved by her story. In my opinion, she is an example of how a progressive woman can enter the political arena with no legislative experience and still make an impact — which is why I decided to document her story.”
Zaza Rising - In Zaza women are still considered second class citizens. Christine Nyirahabimana, the bakery's founder has set out to change that. In 2014 she started the Duterimbere Bakery, hiring 10 HIV positive single mothers as her employees. Length: 11 minutes. Director Lena Strothe:
“This isn’t just another doom and gloom story about Africa. It’s hopeful and inspiring to all of us, and really shows that one person can make a change that has a ripple effect throughout their community. It’s really a story about strength, compassion and entrepreneurship. ”
<FAMILY>
I Am My Own Mother - An adopted woman on the cusp of childbirth reinserts herself back into the life of her biological mother. Length: 23.30 minutes. Writer/Director/Producer Andrew Zox:
“The film is a cathartic experience. It touches on just how difficult it is to find intimacy. In the end, we must be our own mothers and fathers and learn to take care of ourselves. There is strength and calm in knowing that.”
Some Girls' Mothers Uninspired by her own mother's taste in music, ten-year-old Grace sneaks records from her friend's mom's collection. Length: 19.36 minutes. Directors Dayla & Colin Kennedy:
“Some Girls’ Mothers has a great soundtrack, is paced well, and has three excellent actresses. I think it leaves an audience feeling good. It’s a sweet film.”
Affricate - A single mother’s adventure by the seaside leads her to recognise her unnecessary martyrdom for her disabled teenage daughter. Length: 26:18 minutes. Director Anna Gyimesi:
“Because of my mother’s chronic illness, I often felt that the roles were reversed and that I was the parent. It was a role that I didn’t want, that was a burden for me. Perhaps because of that, I am afraid that motherhood would become a burden for me. It’s important for me to have mother characters in my films whose motherhood is also a burden because I can play over and over again with the idea of laying down that burden through my films.”
Mother - A suburban housewife finds a used condom while vacuuming her house. It could only have come from one of two people, her fifteen-year-old daughter or her husband. Length: 13.10 minutes. Writer/Director David Rusanow:
“Mother covers a lot of personal themes, in the sense that it is all told from Julie’s perspective. It’s a very personal situation of her dealing with something very tough happening in her life that if she confronts it, it could ruin her family.”
Mother of Color - A single mother of two begins receiving messages from her ancestors as she sets out to make it to a life-changing job interview with a local commissioner. Length: 1 hour 27 minutes. Writer/Director Dawn Jones Redstone:
“The film ultimately asks us all to consider how we can acknowledge our wounds and heal in order to see the world more clearly and become the people we need to be in order to usher in a better future. ”
Blocks - An existential comedy about the mother of two young children who begins to spontaneously vomit plastic toy blocks. Length: 11.04 minutes. Writer/Director Bridget Moloney:
“I wanted to explore how parenthood felt—in a really visual way. I kept thinking the days I felt like all I did was tidy my house—and it was still a wreck, feed my children—and then feed them again 30 minutes later. There was this unrelenting domestic rhythm and I was surprised by how all-consuming it was. ”
The Mother - When a hardened widow receives an unexpected visit, she is given the chance to shed light on her husband's death. Length: 11.05 minutes. Writer/Director Paolo Monico:
“If you love blurred lines, if you don’t like being spoon-fed with all the answers and prefer to find your own instead, if you think that films, just like life itself, can be poignant and funny at the same time, and if you think that, in general, the “truth” is just the space between two people’s perceptions (and probably neither one is accurate), well, then you might probably enjoy this tiny little film.”
Mothering tells the story of a young girl, Mia, arriving at her new foster home. When her first period unexpectedly appears in the early hours, help comes in the form of her foster parent's elderly mother, Pauline. Length: 14.17 minutes. Writer/Director Lucy Bridger and Producer Ailsa Vanessa Tapping:
“LUCY: The film focuses a lot on female identity. Helen, the foster mother, has the chance to be a mother, an opportunity she’s never had before. Pauline, the grandmother, is happy for her daughter and being a naturally maternal woman, she is happy to have a chance to mother again as a grandmother. As Mia is a foster child, her sense of self is already damaged and her sense of identity fluctuates constantly throughout the film. She is a stranger in an unknown place. She is thrown into disarray when her period arrives, with it being a very significant milestone as a woman.”
Always - A Mother’s strength brings life into the world but how will she overcome the agony of death. Length: 14:04 minutes. Writer/Director/Producer Angela DiMarco:
“Always is a film dedicated to our son, Caleb, who we lost December 30th, 2016. I went into early labor and as soon as he came into the world, he was taken from us. I first wrote Always for me; while I was deep in my “rabbit hole”, I found that writing kept me going. Then, I saw that this story could bring awareness for those who have lost a child. I wanted to show a couple in the pit of their grief, and how they learn to live with it and each other. ”
Long Distance - A traveling man learns of his mother's degrading health through a series of voicemails. Length: 7:07 minutes. Director/Editor/Actor David Austin Thompson:
“I think a big question that could be raised is how do individual people process their grief. We all have different experiences, upbringings, and outlets for release, and it’s interesting to see what people do with their emotions.”
<POSTNATAL DEPRESSION>
When The Bough Breaks: a documentary about postpartum depression An inside look at postpartum depression, which affects 1 in 5 new mothers after childbirth. Length: 93 minutes. Interview with filmmakers Tanya Newbould, Jamielyn Lippman & Lindsay Gerszt:
“This illness affects 1 in 5 women and yet nobody is talking about it. I had so many misconceptions about it as most people do and I felt compelled as a mother to make a film about something that was this important, could help women and save lives”
One in Five - A short film about an unlikely bond between two mothers, forged in the darkness of an episode of postnatal depression. Length: 15 minutes. Director Isabella Wing-Davey:
“This film is very personal to us, each woman in the creative team has their own connection with mental health issues and motherhood. But the universal themes of expectation and daily pressures are incredibly present in the film, and you don’t have to be a mother to relate to that and enjoy the film. ”
<EXPECTATIONS>
First Person: A Film About Love - Stifled by her family life and the stranglehold of feminine expectations, a mother who has it all decides to pursue herself above all else and refuses to bend to society's mores, even in the face of unspeakable tragedy. 1:28 minutes. Writer/Director Ashley Cahill, co-producer Flyn Roddam, production designer Sophie Tabet and Producer Brighton McCloskey:
“ASHLEY: Because hopefully, it will open up some questions about a woman’s role as a mother and whether this is actually what all mothers want out of their lives. Also, it’s an interesting movie with some great performances in it.”
Wilted - A woman faces the maternal struggles of expectations and reality, revealing her deepest emotions and pains. Length: 10 minutes. Writer/Director Chadd Alciati and Producer Ethan Paisley:
“CHADD: Thank you very much! I decided to make this film because I wanted to offer a fresh perspective on a very taboo subject in the modern lives of many women and families. To really convey the emotions that I wanted to show, relying solely on our female character to drive the story would be both original and helpful to reaching the main goal.”
Mothers Two friends explore themes of Empty Nest Syndrome and transition over one night's misadventure in a hotel hot tub. Length: 12.28 minutes. Writer/Director/Producer Leslie Murphy:
“Mothers was inspired both my own mother’s experience with Empty Nest Syndrome when my youngest sister went away to college, and also by my hope to showcase more stories by and about women and their unique perspectives and experiences at all stages and ages of their lives. To me, Mothers is a coming of age story, in a way— just for slightly older age.”
Call Me Mommy - Uncovering the multifaceted life of Sinead, a middle-aged single mother and online sex worker. Length: 15:00. Director Tara O'Callaghan:
“We dig into the effects of ‘Mommy issues’ in Sinead’s career as a mature sex worker, her personal life and as a stay-at-home single mother of 4, but at its heart, it’s a story about a woman who refuses to give up on herself.”
Supermarket Affairs - While preparing for her husband’s death anniversary, an immigrant Vietnamese mother and her Americanized adult daughter butt heads and inadvertently drag a handsome stranger from the local Asian market into their messy family dynamic.
“Though, since it’s so personal to me, the challenge is to be inspired without being literal about it. Using a mixture of comedy and tragedy helps, and the comedy in fact makes the tragedy more intense.”
<SURROGACY>
Sweet Heart - Isabel lives with an older lover and his eight-year-old daughter Lola, to whom she is closer in age and possibly more attached. Amidst an impending breakup, Isabel is grappling with the responsibility of explaining how love ends. Length: 10.17 minutes. Writer/Director/Producer Madeline Mack:
“I wrote Sweet Heart in the heartache of an abrupt and stormy breakup. It started out as a letter to the daughter of the man that had left me. I had been living with the two of them and I was closer in age to his eight-year-old daughter than to him. Despite my own youth, I was trusted, perhaps expected, to take a maternal role in her life. I found myself a surrogate mother to my best friend. I was never given an opportunity to say goodbye to her and my heart was broken twice over, the loss of her possibly as punishing than the loss of the romantic relationship. ”
Human Affairs - This richly earnest drama follows Geneviève, a surrogate who must reckon with her ambivalence about the pregnancy and her precarious feelings for the parents-to-be. Length: 78 Minutes. Writer/Director Charlie Birns:
“Themes of seeking connection, pursuing truth, creating family, and finding meaning in life are the bedrock of the film.”
Nest Egg - When a young American woman decides to become a gestational surrogate to a couple from China, her insecure husband tries to torpedo the arrangement. Length: 13 minutes. Writer/Director/Editor Henry Loevner:
“I’ve been fascinated by gestational surrogacy for a while, in large part because I have three cousins who were carried by surrogates. On top of that, I was born in Hong Kong, lived in China for many years, and speak Mandarin. So when I discovered that Chinese nationals have been coming to California in droves to hire gestational surrogates, I knew I wanted to make a film about it.”
<NO KIDS FOR ME>
The Fruitless Tree - As a married but childless woman, Aicha finds herself in a situation that is totally “out of the ordinary” in her country, Niger, where women are expected to have children. But just like everywhere else in the world today, Niger also experiences problems with infertility. Based on her personal story, Aicha Macki explores the private suffering of women in her situation with great sensitivity. Speaking openly as a childless woman among mothers, she breaks a taboo in Nigerien society. Length: 52 minutes. Directed by Aicha Macky.
No Kids For Me, Thanks - Kids, not everyone wants them. Here's an in-depth look at Western women who've decided not to reproduce and the challenges that this decision still poses in 2015.
Length: 74 minutes. Writer/Director/Producer Magenta Baribeau:
“This is a really personal project of mine that came out of a desire to stop the invisibility of childfree women. The idea to make a documentary film on this subject came to me on a rainy November day in 2008, after leaving a travel clinic in Montreal where once again I was told by a stranger, “You’ll change your mind!” when I had said I didn’t want kids.
Frustrated by the condescension and lack of understanding, I set out to find a reflection of my own self in the media. I couldn’t find any. I had a flash. This was going to be my first feature. This was THE subject I had been waiting for.
”
Chronicles of a BLEEP Year Old Woman - She looked delusion in the face and thought, “Yeah, we’re gonna get along just fine.” Length: 9.32 minutes. Writer/Producer Tamra Paselk:
“When I began this journey, I was marriage-less, childless and living entirely outside the societal norms box. My going into a new career at a less-than-conventional age really threw the world around me for a loop. They didn’t know what to do with me and that made it incredibly difficult to make professional headway. ”