ACMI Presents
Young Mothers
Jeunes mères
Tickets
When
Fri 26 Dec 2025 - Sun 4 Jan 2026
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The intersecting lives of five teenage mothers reveal a moving tapestry of resilience and hope for a cohort often neglected by the silver screen.
Life doesn’t always go to plan. For teenagers Jessica, Perla, Julie, Ariane and Naïma, motherhood has come early, and they find themselves housed in a shelter for young mothers. Each woman hopes for a better life for themself and their child.
Curator’s Note
After a career of decentralising the camera’s compassionate gaze away from white, middle-class Europe, the Dardenne brothers are back, with their latest film, Young Mothers, again skirting around the periphery, in a political space beside filmmakers like Ken Loach and Andrea Arnold. Here, the focus is on teenage mothers – a cohort often ignored, or worse patronised, by contemporary cinema.
Young Mothers received a ten-minute standing ovation upon its premiere at the 78th Cannes Film Festival and went on to win the prize for Best Screenplay.
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