An Oya Media Group and NFB co-production
An emotionally sweeping tale of healing and forgiveness, A Mother Apart accompanies powerhouse Jamaican-American poet and LGBTQ+ activist Staceyann Chin as she re-imagines the essential art of mothering—having been abandoned by her own mother.
How do you raise a child when your own mother abandoned you? In a remarkable story of healing and forgiveness, Jamaican-American poet and LGBTQ+ activist Staceyann Chin, renowned for performances in Def Poetry Slam and hit solo shows like MotherStruck!, radically re-imagines the essential art of mothering. In seeking her elusive mother—a trail that leads to Brooklyn, Montreal, Cologne and, finally, Jamaica—Staceyann and her daughter forge a new sense of home.
“My mother’s leaving me was the first wound.”
Staceyann Chin embodies multiple complex identities—poet, activist, lesbian, Jamaican American, mother. But the most complicated of all is “daughter.”
Abandoned by her mother as a child, Staceyann has been seeking her out for decades, travelling the globe in a one-sided attempt to forge a meaningful bond with the woman who brought her into the world.
And now, as the sole parent of nine-year-old Zuri, she wrestles with an all-consuming dilemma: how to mother a daughter when your own mother was missing in action.
In an extraordinary tale of grace and forgiveness, filmmaker Laurie Townshend profiles one woman’s inspired and deeply intentional parenting. A Mother Apart catches up with Staceyann as she picks up the trail of her elusive mother—a trail that leads to Brooklyn, Montreal, Cologne and, finally, back to her native Jamaica. Along the way she just may find the sense of home she’s been longing for.
A healing journey spanning three generations, the film is punctuated with vivid animation, imagery from personal archives and excerpts from Staceyann’s arresting live performances. Her singularly intersectional voice, showcased in the legendary Def Poetry Slam and hit solo shows like MotherStruck!, infuses A Mother Apart with deep compassion and commanding intelligence.
Poet, actor, and performing artist Staceyann Chin is the author of the new poetry collection Crossfire: A Litany For Survival, the critically acclaimed memoir The Other Side of Paradise, cowriter and original performer in the Tony Award–winning Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway, and author of the one-woman shows Hands Afire, Unspeakable Things, Border/Clash, and MotherStruck. She has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show and 60 Minutes, and her poetry been featured in the New York Times and the Washington Post. She proudly identifies as Caribbean, Black, Asian, lesbian, a woman, and a resident of New York City, as well as a Jamaican national.
Contact NFB Publicist for broadcast–quality excerpts.
Directed by
Laurie Townshend
Produced by
Alison Duke
Ngardy Conteh George
Justine Pimlott
Executive Producers
Chanda Chevannes
Alison Duke
Ngardy Conteh George
Anita Lee
Written by
Laurie Townshend
Alison Duke
Edited by
Sonia Godding Togobo
Directors of Photography
Mrinal Desai
Ashley Iris Gill
Gabriela Osio Vanden
Motion Designer
Ramón Charles
Music Composed by
Tom Third
Vocals by
SATE
Associate Producer
Elise Whittington
Development Producer
Lea Marin
Production Managers
Nina Beveridge
Fonna Seidu
Story Editor
Ricardo Acosta
Appearing
Hazel
Larah
Montreal
Jennifer Belson
Janet James
Larry James
Lisa Mullings
New York
Raquel Thompson
Jamaica
Mary Miles-Blake
Rachel Cargle
Additional Writing
Lindsey Addawoo
Script Consultant
Sugith Varughese
Research and Clearances
Amy Fritz
Clearances Coordinator
Lucas Silveira
Additional Photography
Maya Bankovic
Amber Fares
Ania Freer
Kristin Kremers
Iris Ng
Laurie Townshend
Mark Valino
Set Photography
Ina Sotirova
Sound Recordists
Alisa Erlikh
Stéphan Guschewski
Tobias Haynes
Sam Kashefi
Sara Labadie
Sheldon Turnbull
Additional Sound
Jada Biggs
Antoinette Tomlinson
Kenzie Yango
Production Coordinator
Naiyelli Romero Agüero
Assistant Production Coordinator
Folasewa Babalola
Production Assistants
Jada Biggs
Keesha Chung
Alison Dykstra
Stephanie Hanson
Kayla Keip
Karen Osagie
Transport
Prince Ellis
Richard Wint
Additional Research
Folasewa Babalola
Post Production Supervisor
Omar Abd Alla
Assistant Editors
Meeka McLean
Denise Lee Hutchinson
Ri-Ann Pully
Nathan Allen
Abasi Ekpenyon
Theatrical Imaging By
Picture Shop Toronto
Technical Operations Manager
Brian Reid
DI Supervisor
Patrick Duchesne
DI Finishing Producer
Josh Sousa
DI Colourist
Robert Evans
DI Online Editor
Al O’Hara
DI Packaging Editor
Mark Betteridge
Sales Executive
Mike McConnell
Re-recording Mixer
Stacy Coutts
DX Editor
Kathy Choi
SFX Editor
Drew Snyder
Mix Assistant
Cait Macintosh
Audio Coordinator
Nova Oh
Transcriptions
Closed Caption Services
German – English Translations
Zun Lee
Accounting Services
Jimmy Ye Professional Corporation
Ability Accounting
Legal
Henderson & Co
Cheryl Grossman Entertainment Law
Insurance
Arthur J. Gallagher Canada Limited
For The NFB
Studio Operations Manager
Mark Wilson
Studio Administrator
Andrew Martin-Smith
Senior Production Coordinators
Melissa Paduada
Katie Murray
Production Supervisor
Marcus Matyas
Technical Coordinator
Kevin Riley
Studio Technician
Q’Mal Labad-Workman
Studio Coordinator
Calvin Serutoke
Marketing Manager
Andrea Elalouf
Marketing Coordinator
Harmonie Hemming
Publicist
Jennifer Mair
Legal Counsel
Peter Kallianiotis
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