Mother to Mother

The murder in a Cape Town township of 26-year-old Amy Biehl, an American human rights activist and Fulbright scholar, rocked South Africa in 1993. Mother to Mother is a sensitively made, short documentary based on the gut-wrenching novel by Dr. Sindiwe Magona, writing in the voice of the mother of one of Amy’s murderers to Amy’s mother. The documentary cuts between scenes from a play based on the book, directed by Janice Honeyman, and interviews with creatives, teachers and learners. Incorporating the powerful voices of young people in today’s South Africa, it confronts head on the country’s troubling past, which has created the perfect storm for such violence against women, without attempting to excuse or justify it.