What does it mean to be a single mother in today’s world? What joys and challenges do single mothers face? Check out these documentaries featuring single mothers.
“Kind Hearted Woman” (2013)
This documentary acts as a portrait of a 32-year-old divorced single mother and Oglala Sioux woman living on North Dakota’s Spirit Lake Reservation. The film follows her over three years as she struggles to raise her two children, further her education and heal herself from the wounds of sexual abuse she suffered as a child.
“72%” (2015)
Nearly 72% of black children are born out of wedlock, and most are being raised by single mothers. Why is it that some black men continue to neglect their parental responsibilities? The film investigates the effects that colonization and slavery have had on the black family unit, which was once solid and intact.
“First Comes Love” (2014)
Filmmaker Nina Davenport chronicles her decision — as a single woman in her early forties — to have a baby on her own, persuade a male friend to donate sperm, the pregnancy and birth of her son and the early days of her new family. The film taps into the zeitgeist topic of how the modern family is being re-imagined in the early twenty-first century.
