Earth Mama

This delicate, absorbing portrait of motherhood follows a young Black woman caught up in a spiral of institutional disadvantage.

Heavily pregnant Gia, a cash-strapped twentysomething mother living in California’s Bay Area, is up against the punitive measures of a system set up to fail her. Recovering from a drug addiction, she’s only allowed to see her two children for a one-hour supervised visit each week. Steered towards considering an open adoption for her unborn child, much to the chagrin of her religious best friend, Gia is faced with a gut-wrenching decision.

Powered by a star-making performance from Tia Nomore – a mother and aspiring doula plucked from the Oakland rap scene by former Olympic athlete, Grammy winner and first-time feature director Savanah Leaf – Earth Mama draws on its maker’s short documentary The Heart Still Hums. Laying bare the oft-racialised pathways for young Black women, Leaf approaches poverty and the fallible US foster-care system in the sensitive manner of the Dardennes, a feat of such resonance that she won an Audience Award on the story’s home turf: the San Francisco International Film Festival. Capped off with mesmerising 16mm cinematography by Jody Lee Lipes and feted by distributor A24, this arresting debut confidently tackles the complexities of American institutions through its empathetic character drama.

“A shimmering stunner … whose director and star are obviously poised for greatness.” – IndieWire

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Director Savanah Leaf will be in attendance for the screenings on Wednesday 16 and Friday 18 August.