A Mother Apart: Discussion Guide Film Summary

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In a poignant story of healing and forgiveness, Jamaican-American poet and LGBTQ+ activist Staceyann Chin explores how to raise a child after being abandoned by her own mother. Known for her work in Def Poetry Slam and shows like MotherStruck!, Chin embarks on a journey across Brooklyn, Montreal, Cologne, and Jamaica to find her mother, ultimately creating a new sense of home with her daughter.

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Laurie Townshend

Writer, director, and former middle school Drama teacher Laurie Townshend believes that before we shape stories, stories shape us. Raised by a Jamaican mother—the family’s eloquent griot—she learned early that storytelling is both inheritance and power. Her award-winning debut feature, A Mother Apart (2024), follows poet-activist Staceyann Chin on a journey of healing and radical mothering. The film earned Laurie the DGC Allan King Award for Best Direction in a Canadian Documentary and, in addition to being part of POV’s 38th season on PBS, has screened at more than 20 festivals, including Hot Docs, BlackStar, DOC NYC, BFI Flare, and Frameline.

Laurie is currently developing Tallawah, a documentary about the young women of a burgeoning Jamaican basketball league, fighting for something beyond the game—a future of their own making. In 2025, Tallawah was one of 16 projects selected for the Chicken & Egg Films Research & Development Grant, supported by Netflix. Her much-anticipated podcast, That One Teacher—a reunion series that brings together adult changemakers with the teacher who changed them—is scheduled to launch officially in 2026.