This film is currently unavailable
Good Mothers
Carl Theodor Dreyer’s first short film honours the work of the Mother’s Aid Institution, a state-funded organisation offering services for new mothers.
Director: Carl Th. Dreyer
Overview
Carl Theodor Dreyer’s first short film, shot in the summer of 1942 at Nordisk Film with a cast of non-actors, honours the work of the Mother’s Aid Institution, a state-funded organisation offering services for new mothers.
Although ostensibly a public information film, documenting the workings of a state-funded institution, its participants are all scripted and acted and their exchanges are conventionally shot. Dreyer accords the material just as much respect as his feature-film works, lighting and constructing scenes with sparse beauty, all accompanied by a stirring score from his regular composer Poul Schierbeck.
Related
The Taste of Mango The Taste of Mango
Documentary 2023 75 mins Director: Chloe Abrahams
Sleepwalking into submerged depths of memory, a mother’s dream and a daughter’s beckoning, this fascinating film tenderly untangles the knots of the past.
2073 2073
Documentary 2024 83 mins Director: Asif Kapadia
Oscar-winning director Asif Kapadia's unsettling drama-documentary delivers a powerful commentary on the state of the world today… and tomorrow.
A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things
Biopic 2024 88 mins Director: Mark Cousins
A striking portrait of an artist deserving of greater recognition, directed by Mark Cousins (A Story of Film).
Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat
Documentary 2024 150 mins Director: Johan Grimonprez
Johan Grimonprez’s involving film essay, anchored by the rhythm of American jazz, reveals disturbing truths about the decolonial struggle between global political powers.
No Other Land No Other Land
Documentary 2024 92 mins Director: Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal and Yuval Abraham
This powerful documentary from a Palestinian-Israeli collective might be one of the most important films of this year.
South: Sir Ernest Shackleton's Glorious Epic of the Antarctic South: Sir Ernest Shackleton's Glorious Epic of the Antarctic
Documentary 1919 81 mins Silent Director: Frank Hurley
An extraordinary story of survival in the wastes of Antarctica.
Children Children
Drama 1976 46 mins Director: Terence Davies
The first part of Terence Davies' formidable Trilogy explores the effects of violence on a Liverpool schoolboy, told in a series of flashbacks.
Madonna and Child Madonna and Child
Drama 1980 28 mins Director: Terence Davies
Autobiography as art: the centrepiece of Terence Davies' devastating Liverpool-set Trilogy focuses on his fictional alter-ego in middle age.
Death and Transfiguration Death and Transfiguration
Drama 1983 26 mins Director: Terence Davies
The Terence Davies Trilogy reaches its astonishing climax as tortured Liverpool clerk Robert Tucker prepares to meet his maker.
The Pendulum, The Pit and Hope The Pendulum, The Pit and Hope
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1983 15 mins Director: Jan Svankmajer
Švankmajer's second adaptation of the work of Edgar Allan Poe, in which a prisoner is forced to undergo trials of torture.
The Castle of Otranto The Castle of Otranto
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1977 18 mins Director: Jan Svankmajer
Czech animator Jan Švankmajer's adaptation of Horace Walpole's Gothic novel.
The Fall of the House of Usher The Fall of the House of Usher
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1982 16 mins Director: Jan Svankmajer
The first of Švankmajer's 'tactile experiments', chosen partly because the title was on an official list of 'approved' texts. In this version there are no humans, just a glimpse of a live raven as the camera roams around an eerie derelict house.
The Taste of Mango The Taste of Mango
Documentary 2023 75 mins Director: Chloe Abrahams
Sleepwalking into submerged depths of memory, a mother’s dream and a daughter’s beckoning, this fascinating film tenderly untangles the knots of the past.
2073 2073
Documentary 2024 83 mins Director: Asif Kapadia
Oscar-winning director Asif Kapadia's unsettling drama-documentary delivers a powerful commentary on the state of the world today… and tomorrow.
A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things
Biopic 2024 88 mins Director: Mark Cousins
A striking portrait of an artist deserving of greater recognition, directed by Mark Cousins (A Story of Film).
Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat
Documentary 2024 150 mins Director: Johan Grimonprez
Johan Grimonprez’s involving film essay, anchored by the rhythm of American jazz, reveals disturbing truths about the decolonial struggle between global political powers.
No Other Land No Other Land
Documentary 2024 92 mins Director: Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal and Yuval Abraham
This powerful documentary from a Palestinian-Israeli collective might be one of the most important films of this year.
Small Things Like These Small Things Like These
Drama 2024 99 mins Director: Tim Mielants
Oscar-winner Cillian Murphy delivers a stunning performance as a coal merchant who discovers horrific secrets about his local convent.