MATER (WT)

Michael and Marco are cousins, the same age, raised like brothers in the same family. One is adopted, the other is not. As adults, both filmmakers, they decide to turn the camera toward their own family history, embarking together on an emotional and generational journey into their roots. For Michael, adopted at almost four years old, this journey becomes a confrontation with the two mothers who shaped his life: Camilla, the adoptive mother who welcomed him after two interrupted pregnancies, and Maria Antonietta, his biological mother, a woman living on the margins whose life has been marked by poverty and separation. Alongside them emerges the figure of Valentina, Michael’s adoptive sister, who has just become a mother herself and, like him, feels the need to question her own origins. Through memories, silences and revelations, Mater explores the mother–child bond and the boundaries between biological and chosen family, in an intimate journey searching for what truly defines a family.