A Mother Apart – Hot Docs 2024
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April 25 to May 5, 2024
Content Advisory: Homophobia
FILM FESTIVAL
Hot Docs
Hot Docs 2024
PROGRAMME
Persister
LGBTQ poet Staceyann Chin has spent decades trying to reconcile the abandonment by her mother in A Mother Apart. When Staceyann Chin was a 9-year-old in Jamaica, her mother Hazel for a new life in Montreal. Now a lesbian beat poet, Staceyann is still trying to cope with this abandonment while trying to be a mother to her 9-year-old daughter Zuri.
A Mother Apart Synopsis
A Mother Apart is a documentary by Laurie Townshend about Jamaican-American beat poet Staceyann Chin. Staceyann’s childhood abandonment by her mother is the subject of both her poetry and her solo show MotherStruck!. As a teenager, Staceyann would eventually track her mother to Cologne and attempt to develop a relationship with her younger sister Laura. However, even after the reunion, Staceyann’s relationship with her mother was tense, due to the latter not agreeing with Stacyann’s status as a lesbian.
My Thoughts on A Mother Apart
Staceyann Chin is part of a generation of Caribbean children nicknamed the barrel children, since their parents would move to new lives in North America and send back barrels full of supplies. A Mother Apart deals with the conundrum of Staceyann Chin trying to be a mother to her daughter, while also having unresolved issues about her mother. The result is an interesting character study.
Trailer for A Mother Apart – Hot Docs 2024
