Mothers

In ten kitchen conversations, mothers talk openly, honestly and bluntly. (production note)

“In ten kitchen conversations, mothers share their stories openly, honestly, and bluntly,” write the filmmakers. It’s as if the audience were taking a seat in their kitchens, looking around, and immersing themselves in the intimacy of these profound narratives. It’s touching and engaging, sad, happy, and thought-provoking. Over the course of the film, the individual portraits become more detailed, at the same time revealing a full picture of the families. 

As diverse as the women are, so too are their stories about motherhood and their relationships with their partners, children, and themselves. Their narratives follow the free flow of life or are rigorously planned. The individuality of particular life realities demonstrates, in parallel, the simultaneous diversity of ways in which mothers in Austria can be mothers. Strokes of fate, physical challenges, temporary mental illnesses, everyday racism, careers, lesbian parenthood – many things are being lived well and convincingly. They are also at times on the verge of being unbearable and overwhelming, were it not for the tangible power of love and their relationships with their children, which carries them through everyday life. 

The film reveals all of the facets of the profound way in which motherhood reconfigures entire lives, and how the political dimension of social constructs inscribes itself into the private sphere. Here, the diverse voices almost become one. A voice that calls for greater political and structural support, and a society that finally no longer leaves mothers alone with their challenges,but instead embraces a positive way of living motherhood in the spirit of solidarity. (Heidrun Primas) 

Translation: John Wojtowicz