Calling Mother

Picture Proof

March 2023 •English

Examines the intergenerational impact of addiction by chronicling the love, labor, loss, and uncertainty of one woman’s struggle to live a life of sobriety. Weaving together moments of glee, fulfillment, acceptance, sorrow, and disappointment, this documentary takes an intimate look at the bonds that hold one family together and a disease that threatens to tear them apart.

Pivetta

October 2021 •English

Mamma

April 2021 •Norwegian

It's Christmas Eve, and Synnøve is searching for her drug-addicted daughter Michelle in an almost desolated city. During the course of the evening, she'll find herself in an impossible situation where she's forced to choose.

Beautiful Births

September 2014 •English

An informational documentary that invites you to explore another side of pregnancy and childbirth which is not often shown in the mainstream media. In this documentary we take a look at the Midwifery Model of Care, show and tell what a birth center is and what one can expect with an out of hospital birth experience. We answer the most common questions and address the concerns most people have about out of hospital births. We also discuss C-section, VBAC, ICAN, Interventions, the importance of a proper diet during pregnancy and more. We hear three women share their personal birth stories; In and out of hospital experiences. This documentary is full of good information and is a must see for all women of childbearing age interested in pregnancy and childbirth, regardless of where they choose to give birth.

Maman

February 2025 •French

Marie-Hélène, my mother, is retiring and takes with her her memories, her anxieties and the mental burden of having raised three children while working full time. As she works her last shift as a home nurse, her thoughts jostle and harmonize in a whirlwind similar to a panic attack.

Carnations

Invalid date •English

Seven strangers are interviewed to talk about the relationship they have with their mother.

Mães - Um filme pra falar de amor

May 2021 •Portuguese

The Mirror and the Window

November 2021 •Spanish

Filmmaker Diego Gutiérrez knows that he is soon to lose two loved ones: his mother Gina Coppe and his best friend Danniel Danniel. Both ask him to film them during this final phase of their lives—Gina in her apartment in Mexico City, Danniel in a Dutch restaurant where he feels at home. What stories do they want to leave behind?

Mother

April 2009 •English

Mother compiles clips of mother figures from classic Hollywood cinema and television dramas. The figures range from the Virgin Mary and Mother Courage, to characters from Maude (1972–78), Aliens (1986), Imitation of Life (1959), and American Gangster (2007). The characters play out scenes of care, loss, emotional manipulation, abandonment, and grief. The intense relationships between mothers and daughters are especially prominent.

Mother's Day Gift

March 2019 •Finnish

A story about the special relationship between Jaana and her daughter Liisa who died in a traffic accident at the age of 16.

Ona Carbonell: Starting Over

February 2022 •Spanish

In August 2020, Olympic artistic swimmer Ona Carbonell became a first time mother, an experience that reshaped her life overnight.

Diamond Tongue

Invalid date •English

Lengua de diamante submerges into the past, present, and future life of Elsa Riveros, Colombia’s First Lady of Rock. Long after her iconic career as a fierce 80s rock singer, Elsa now seeks to reinvent herself as a political painter in northern Virginia, where she raises her son.

Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds

January 2017 •English

An intimate portrait of Hollywood royalty featuring Debbie Reynolds, Todd Fisher, and Carrie Fisher.

Spijtmoeders

May 2024 •Dutch

What if you love your child, but are unhappy in your role as a mother? Spijtmoeders is a documentary film about mothers who, if they could make the choice again, would rather not be mothers. Three women talk about their struggles with motherhood, the shame and guilt they feel, and the high expectations society places on them. The fear of judgment from others is great: what if people think that they are not a good mother, that they do not take good care of their child? What if they think they don't love their child? The mothers are represented by hyper-realistic dolls, but their voices are real.

Terry's Little Village

August 2024 •English

Terry Wilson is a 70-year-old lifelong resident of Meadowvale Village, Ontario's first heritage district. As development looms and begins to destroy Terry's favourite place in the world, he recreates pieces of history in his backyard, crafting an oasis where it feels like nothing has changed. A beautiful tribute to his childhood, his mother, and his town, Terry passionately fights to preserve history in a world that's too anxious for change.

Yai Nin

February 2020 •Thai

Ninlawan Pinyo is the matriarch of a Thai American family, who hustled for her fortune by founding a naem pork sausage factory in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Bleed Out

November 2018 •English

After a routine partial hip replacement operation leaves his mother in a coma with permanent brain damage, what starts as a son's video diary becomes a citizen's investigation into the future of American health care.

Deshilando Luz

May 2025 •Spanish

A film essay that intertwines the director's gaze with that of her late mother. Beyond exploring mourning and absence as exclusively painful experiences, the film pays tribute to her mother through memories embodied by places and objects that evidence the traces of her existence. The filmmaker asks herself: What does she owe her mother for who she is and how she films? To what extent does her film belong to her?

The Woman and The Car

October 2018 •English

Artist Kate Blackmore looks at motherhood and mobility, film and feminism through the prism of Margaret Dodd's 1982 classic short film 'This Woman is not a Car.'

Are We Still Friends?

July 2024 •Indonesian

Three boys are asked to call a friend they haven't seen or contacted in a long time. Their conversations reflect on childhood memories, feelings, and the meaning of friendship.