DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

“As best I can tell, motherhood is not only a story of creation, but one of sacrifice. That idea - of giving something up to make something new - is what drew me to make Portrait of a Young Mother. Marlah’s experience in the film - especially coming from a younger generation where parenthood is no longer a default - resonated with me in a deep way. The labor of filmmaking, in a similar sense, is as much a sacrifice as it is creation. I’ve spent my early twenties split between studying film and exploring the edges of solitude - most notably during my 2021 thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada. This trek largely inspired a lot of the themes in the film: that of freedom, the beauty of the natural world, and finding your place in the flow of time. I find myself often tempted to abandon the digital world entirely and live only by the sun's warmth on my eyelids and the sweat on my back. These two experiences: the labor of love which is filmmaking, and the desire to be nothing but a feather in the wind, have proven to be a consistent tension in my life. This same tension lies at the heart of Portrait of a Young Mother. It’s a story about a woman standing on the edge of some great unknown, unsure of what's to come, and longing deeply for an adventure that feels far behind her”

Andy Clay Huey