Umbilical Cords at Encounters 2012
Directed by DFA member, Sarah Ping Nie Jones and co-produced with Jean Meeran of Team Tarbaby, Umbilical Cords premieres at Encounters International Documentary Festival on 8 June 2012.
Umbilical Cords
Six women journey through the love and pain of mothering and being mothered in a transnational world.
The daughters live together in Cape Town, South Africa, with mothers from Argentina, Lesotho and Indonesia. Over five years the trials of migration, religion and racism threaten these bonds. Devoutly Christian Tsepiso can no longer protect her daughter Zanele from the influences of the outside world. Mayra, daughter of an Argentinean immigrant to Johannesburg, can’t forgive her mother Anna-Maria for her broken childhood. Hilary escaped ethnic persecution in Indonesia, and now faces her worst nightmare as her daughter Sarah falls in love with a South African man with dark skin. Each pair becomes locked in a dance around how much they are willing to see each other as separate, and vulnerable, human beings. Umbilical Cords is a candid, intimate exploration of what often remains unsaid between mothers and daughters, until they are forced to confront the woman at the other end of the phone.
Made with the support of the National Film and Video Foundation of South Africa.
Cape Town screenings:
18.45 Fri 8th June - Nu Metro with Q&A
18.30 Thurs 14th June – Fugard Theatre
20.00 Sun 24th June – Nu Metro
Johannesburg screenings:
18.30 Mon 11th June – Nu Metro
18.00 Sat 23rd June – Bioscope