MUST SEE: BEAUTIFUL MOTHERS’ STORIES
Beautiful Mothers are the focus of a new crop of films and videos we’ve gathered for you today.
Through them, you’ll enter the personal dramas of women who become heroes to their families and communities as they struggle, face impossible decisions, and always keep their children as beacons, with laser focus on making their lives, their worlds, and ultimately our world more beautiful in one way or another.
VIKTORIA
Director: Maya Vitkova
Writer: Maya Vitkova
Viktoria is a three-part epic that plays out the compelling story of a mother and daughter as the sculpt their relationship with each other over the past several decades.
Bulgarian filmmaker Maya Vitkova knows how to tell a story beautifully. Using inventive devices, twists and twinkles, with a touch of magical realism, Vitkova spins a mother-daugher drama against the backdrop of communism, just at is comes crashing down around them.
She is part of a new generation of Eastern European filmmakers with a fresh eye and a deep soul. She was a writer and producer before her directorial debut with Viktoria.
Watch the trailers here and here.
MOTHER OF GEORGE
Director: Andrew Dosunmu
Writer: Darci Picoult
Adenike and Ayodele, a newlywed Nigerian couple living in Brooklyn can’t conceive. It’s rough. Particularly given the expectations set within their cultural community. Ayodele is so desperate, she’ll do anything to bear her husband an heir -- she might even deceive him, big time.
Cinematographer Bradford Young won Sundance 2013's Cinematography Award: U.S. Dramatic for his work on this film.
“I wrote it as woman who wanted to have a baby,” said writer Darci Picoult, now the mother of two adopted daughters.
Watch the trailer here.
MY BEAUTIFUL WOMAN
by Wacoal Thailand
My Beautiful Woman is a short film that tells the true story of a young single mother and the strong bond she has with her daughter.
Originally made as a long-form commercial , a popular form in Thailand, My Beautiful Woman packs 10 tons of emotion.
PAS PU SAISIR LA MORT (COULDN’T CATCH DEATH)
by Sophie Calle
Sophie Calle’s mother was dying.There was nothing to be done about it. But Calle, one of France’s most influential conceptual artists, was determined not to miss her mother’s final moments.
Doing what she does best, Calle set up a camera at the foot of her mother’s deathbed. It fulfilled its mission by capturing the passing. The resulting film, Pas Pu Saisir La Mort, is sure to stop you in your tracks and stay with you -- possibly forever.
TIGER - SPY IN THE JUNGLE.
The beauty of motherhood compels us to have children. And it what keeps us transfixed on babies wherever we can find them. “Tiger -- Spy in the Jungle” tells the story of a mother tiger and her 10-day old cubs.
FROM 1994
Written by Casey Warren and Danielle Krieger
What do you say to someone you love when it is your last chance to say it to them? It all comes down to one letter…. the final letter written by Casey Warren’s mother before she passed away from cancer. Warren turned the letter into a gorgeous short film, “From 1994.”
Watch this compelling video for a peek at how this film was made.
MOTHER/MADRE: I AM NOT ASHAMED: NO ME AVERGUENZO
Mother / Madre is a trio of short documentaries created by 12 girls from the Eastern Coachella Valley in southern California, which tell their mothers’ stories. The mothers recount their experiences as immigrants trying to gain entry and build new lives in the US.
The film project, sponsored by the California Endowment and Global Girl Media, a non-profit organization that empowers high school girls with media and leadership training.
The films are packed with power and emotion as they give us glimpses into the lives of these strong women as they struggle to create better lives for their family, against all odds. They face not only challenges in navigating the US legal system, immigration policy, language barriers, economic obstacles, and acceptance within their new communities, but also health concerns, and other issues that are part of any human condition.
Watch these and you will come away with a new-found understanding, appreciation, and admiration for these mothers and their families as well as for others who face similar circumstances in our country.
Watch all three Mother/Madre videos:
Photo Credits:
1. Image: Courtesy of Viktoria Films. Viktoria.
2. Image: Courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories. Mother of George.
3. Image: Courtesy of Wacoal Thailand. My Beautiful Woman.
4. Image: Courtesy of Sophie Calle. Pas Pu Saisir La Mort
5. Image: Courtesy of the BBC. Still from Tiger - Spy in the Jungle.
6. Image: Courtesy of Casey Warren. From 1994 Behind the Scenes.
7. Photo: Courtesy of Global Girl Media. I Am Not Ashamed: No Me Averguenzo.
8. Image: Courtesy of Sophie Calle and Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. From “I Died in a Good Mood.”
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Read more about Beautiful Mothers, as it relates to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact including 10 Beautiful Mothers Books, 10 Beautiful & Wild Mothers Now, 10 Beautiful Ways to Shake It, & Beautiful Mothers Call These Shots.
Enter this week’s BN Creative Photo Competition. Our theme this week is Beautiful Mothers. Deadline is 05.11.14.
