Beautiful and Disturbing at the same time, the film rescues through cinema "The invisible mother", a photographic practice of the 19th century.
OFFICIAL SELECTIONS: IDFA/ Bucharest International Experimental Film Festival/ European Media Art Festival/ Biennale de l’Image Possible/ Festival International Jean Rouch/ Imagine Science Film Festival
Still Holding Still. A portrait with an invisible mother
That the mothers would blend in with the decoration of a photographic studio to hold their young children during a photo shoot was a practice performed by the 19th century portraitists.
The act of staying still, an essential requirement for anyone portrayed by the cameras of that era, is the only staging strategy of Sara Vanagt's documentary.
Through the stillness of children accompanied by their hidden mothers, there is a touching thread about filial love and the desire to perpetuate it in a photograph.