Motherboard is a feature documentary exploring motherhood, filmed over 20 years by BAFTA award-winning director Victoria Mapplebeck. At the age of 38, Victoria found herself single, pregnant and broke. Unable to combine motherhood with freelance directing, she was forced to abandon her career in TV, instead turning the camera on herself and her son, Jim. Victoria first began documenting their lives with her old DVCAM before shooting almost daily on five generations of smartphones, from the iPhone 6 to the iPhone 15. She recorded hundreds of hours of footage, capturing each twist and turn in Jim’s life, from the thumbs-up he gave during her first scan, to his first day at college. Motherboard is proof that epic journeys can begin and end at home. Over two decades, Victoria charts the trials, traumas and occasional triumphs of single parenthood. We see the good times, the holidays, the birthdays, the bedtime routine, Jim’s love of singing and dancing. But we also see the bad times, Victoria’s breast cancer treatment, the disappointments Jim felt when he met with his dad for the first time and in his late teens, his struggles with depression and binge drinking. Victoria captures a life where breast cancer, absent fathers and depression are part of the package, but where life still wins every time. Motherboard is the antidote to the judgmental and unrealistic expectations we have about motherhood, creating an honest, funny and relatable film for any mother who has wept tears of both joy and frustration.
Motherboard is a feature documentary exploring motherhood, filmed over 20 years by BAFTA award-winning director Victoria Mapplebeck. At the age of 38, Victoria found herself single, pregnant and broke. Unable to combine motherhood with freelance directing, she was forced to abandon her career in TV, instead turning the camera on herself and her son, Jim. Victoria first began documenting their lives with her old DVCAM before shooting almost daily on five generations of smartphones, from the iPhone 6 to the iPhone 15. She recorded hundreds of hours of footage, capturing each twist and turn in Jim’s life, from the thumbs-up he gave during her first scan, to his first day at college. Motherboard is proof that epic journeys can begin and end at home. Over two decades, Victoria charts the trials, traumas and occasional triumphs of single parenthood. We see the good times, the holidays, the birthdays, the bedtime routine, Jim’s love of singing and dancing. But we also see the bad times, Victoria’s breast cancer treatment, the disappointments Jim felt when he met with his dad for the first time and in his late teens, his struggles with depression and binge drinking. Victoria captures a life where breast cancer, absent fathers and depression are part of the package, but where life still wins every time. Motherboard is the antidote to the judgmental and unrealistic expectations we have about motherhood, creating an honest, funny and relatable film for any mother who has wept tears of both joy and frustration.