Umbilical Cords

Bursting into womanhood, a girl’s relationship with her mother is often conflicted, fraught and confusing. In this no-holds barred exploration, Sarah, part Chinese-Malay, part- English and living in South Africa, takes an intimate look at her difficult relationship with her mother and compares it to the relationships two of her friends, a South Africanised Argentinean and a young Sotho woman, have with theirs. Filmed over 5 years, this films shows how complex all relationships are, especially when viewed through a lens of modern multiculturalism. It provides us with an opportunity to view the fears of mothers, the idealism and mis-assumptions of daughters and the pain of understanding and transformation.