(bright upbeat music) - In celebration of Women's History Month, the "Black, Bold & Brilliant" series presents a special screening of "Mother Apart," highlighting bold storytelling and lived experiences.

Director of Film Exhibition at Utah Film Center, Russell Roots, is joining us with more.

Welcome, Russell.

- Hello, Liz.

- Tell me about this film, "Mother Apart."

- It's a wonderful documentary about poet and activist Staceyann Chin and the journey she goes on, as she now has a daughter of her own, trying to reconnect with the mother who abandoned her when she was a child.

So it is a really powerful film about the bonds of motherhood and trying to move past that to really identify who you are as a person in either regard.

- Why do you think it resonates with so many different audiences?

- Well, I think the opportunity to really center a Black woman in her stories, within the larger realm of women's history, the ability to really look at it and go, "I can identify myself because I might have been the mother who left someone behind," or "I might have been the child who left someone behind," or "Now, I am the parent who has to reconcile with what I went through when I was a child now that I have a child of my own."

- Mm-hmm.

What I love about your series is that you guys don't just kind of show the film, but there's also a Q&A afterwards- - [Russell] Yes.

- Where people can dive deeper and get some of the questions they have, that are lingering, answered.

Can you talk about that?

- Yes, yes.

We're working on a post-film conversation with both Staceyann Chin and the director, Laurie Townshend.

It hasn't been confirmed, but we are working on it.

I met with Laurie briefly when we were at Sundance together, so we're still working on that and we're really excited to keep it going.

- Well, I'm excited too.

I told you before the interview, I was already searching, trying to watch this.

(laughs) (Russell laughs) It's also gonna be on POV on PBS as well, that people can catch it.

- Yes.

Mm-hmm.

- And so, if they wanna learn more about this event, more about the screening, it's an incredible screening that you can check out through the Utah Film Center, "A Mother Apart," which is happening March 4th, 7:00 to 9:00 PM.

Just head to utahfilmcenter.org to get more information.

And we hope that we'll be able to see you there.

I'm Liz Adeola and thank you so much for watching "Contact."

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