A Mother Apart

SYNOPSIS

A MOTHER APART follows acclaimed poet, performer, and activist Staceyann Chin (Def Poetry Slam, MotherStruck!) on a deeply personal search for her biological mother, who abandoned her as a child in Jamaica. Now a mother herself, Staceyann wrestles with the question: how do you raise a daughter when your own mother left you behind? Spanning Brooklyn, Montreal, Cologne, and Jamaica, her journey blends raw honesty, archival imagery, and vivid animation to trace decades of longing, pain, and resilience. As she seeks connection with the mother who didn’t raise her, Staceyann grapples with the legacy of abandonment and the radical possibility of forgiveness. Alongside her daughter Zuri, she reimagines what family, home, and healing can look like.



At once intimate and universal, A MOTHER APART is a profound story of resilience, reconciliation, and the courage to break cycles of neglect, as well as how to approach forgiveness and intergenerational healing with radical honesty and deep compassion. A vital work for conversations on LGBTQ+ identity, Black motherhood, and the transformative power of love and forgiveness, the film invites audiences to reflect on what it truly means to mother and to be mothered.