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"Motherland" is a subdued but moving documentary about six mothers who begin as strangers, but find common ground and comfort in their grief over the loss of a child. Together these women travel to Africa to provide comfort and aid to impoverished children. Each woman's story of the loss of their child (which ranges from suicide, murder and accident) is juxtaposed with scenes of the women finding a sense of peace in conversations with each other and finding warm distraction by showing love and affection to children who either have AIDS or have lost a parent to the devastating virus.

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It is documented that each year over eight million families around the world suffer the loss of a child, and released on Wednesday, August 26, the SXSW (South by Southwest) winner of the Emerging Visions Audience Award, "Motherland", takes a deep, heartfelt look into the lives of six women and their fight to move on after unexpected tragedies.

Directed by Jennifer Steinman, Motherland has collected numerous awards. After wowing audiences at the SXSW it also was well-received at other highly acclaimed independent film festivals throughout the country; with awards like Jury Prize for Best Feature at the Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival and Best Documentary at the 2009 California Independent Film Festival, Motherland is a film short in regards to its length but long on its message.

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"The pain of grief is just as much a part of life as the joy of love; it is, perhaps, the price we pay for love; it is the cost of commitment," Colin Parkes and Robert Weiss write in Recovery from Bereavement. There are few tragedies more harrowing or debilitating than the death of a child. Each year more than eight million families around the world experience this nightmare. Grieving demands a special kind of courage and cannot be rushed. Parents must find a new source of hope for the future without slighting the treasured memory of the child who has died.

This difficult process is explored in Motherland, a deeply affecting award-winning documentary directed by Jennifer Steinman. This could be called "a healing adventure" for that is exactly what happens as six American mothers travel 8,000 miles to South Africa on a 17-day journey to live with local families and work with African organizations dedicated to improving the lives of children. Motherland was the winner of this year's Emerging Visions award at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival and Best Documentary at the 2009 California Independent Film Festival.

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In Jennifer Steinman's online documentary "Motherland," six American women go on a mission of mercy to South Africa where they work with hundreds of children orphaned by poverty, pestilence and rampant AIDS.

But that's not the real reason they have come.

They have come to these remote South African villages seeking solace and healing.

For each woman is a mother who has lost a child to a premature death. And that loss has been so overwhelmingly dark and debilitating, the women are consumed with grief, unable to carry on their everyday lives.

This is a tough movie to watch, even if you're not a mother and haven't lost a child. I cannot imagine how tough it might be for a mother who has.

Steinman's documentary - available only on the Web and not in area theaters - shows us how these six women, mostly from California, one from Racine, Wis., come together as strangers in a strange land, then through their work with children, form a therapeutic bond that gives them an outlet for their sorrow.

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Jennifer Steinman’s debut feature, Motherland, captures the heartbreak of several women who have lost their children but who are trying to overcome their grief by helping others. It is hard not to be moved by this simple but effective documentary.

Motherland is being streamed digitally to households by Gigantic Digital Cinema. It may end up working better on a small screen than in theatres, given the intimate nature of the material. Viewers who seek it out will be glad they did.

Steinman, who directed and co-produced and co-edited, follows six American mothers whose grown children have died (in different ways) as they take a 17-day trip together to South Africa to care for youngsters at risk, including children with HIV. The journey proves both heartrending and healing at the same time.

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It’s hard to imagine the impact of losing a child, and it’s even harder to find constructive ways to deal with the grief. Jennifer Steinman’s new documentary ‘Motherland’ follows a group of American women who attempt to get beyond their own suffering.

This solid new offering is currently playing in New York and is available online at www.giganticdigital.com.

While the subjects of “Motherland” come from different parts of the United States and from different ethnic backgrounds and income levels, each of the six women profiled in the film has lost a child.

Before you imagine that film will degenerate into an 80-minute therapy session, Steinman follows the sextet as they head to South Africa to volunteer at schools where the pupils are often orphans who have lost their parents to AIDS and other issues that have plagued the nation.

Gradually the women open up to each other and bond with the children they’re helping. It doesn’t result in any miracles, but it’s enjoyable to watch the women gradually open up about their tragedies.

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The death of a child is never easy and never bearable. Whether it's by sickness or by accident, a parent doesn't foresee their child dying before them. Through time, the healing process begins. In Jennifer Steinman's documentary, 'Motherland,' she shares the stories of six women, each who has lost a child and have taken a 17-day trip to South Africa to comfort the children of those who died of AIDS and other diseases. It's a story that's uplifting, heartfelt and poignant.

In traveling to Oudtshoorn, South Africa, we meet Kathy, Debbi, Barbara and Lauren, Anne, and Mary Helena as they come to help the orphans whose parents have died of AIDS or other diseases. As each of the women comment on how wonderful it is for them to be of assistant, we get a glimpse as their own sadden tale. Debbie lost her son Garrett to drunk driver, while Anne lost her daughter Grace to suicide without ever knowing a reason. Although she works in a hospital emergency room, Kelly wasn't on duty when her son Mike died of a motorcycle accident. The youngest of the women, Lauren, is not a mother, but there to represent her mother. Lauren's brother Aaron died of a gang-related incident, while Barbara's son Jason died in a car crash. The most compelling story of the women comes from African American Mary Helena, who not only lost her son Teveston in a homicide, but suffered a stroke afterwards.

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People heal in different ways. There is the strong and silent type, usually associated with men and then there is weeping, usually associated with women. Somewhere in-between lies a territory that combines strong, silent, weeping and a host of other emotions expressed physically and mentally and that is what you see in Jennifer Steinman’s documentary, Motherland. The title comes from one woman, who is part of a group traveling to Africa, and when she touches the soil, says she has come “to the Motherland.” It is a telling moment.

Statistics tell us that each year, eight million families around the world have the loss of a child. Director Jennifer Steinman has taken six American women who have lost children, many through violence, and transported the women to Africa. The idea is if you meet someone who has larger problems than you do, your situation may be smaller in comparison. Thus, we meet Mary (Racine, WI), Kathy (Santa Rosa, CA), Anne (San Francisco, CA), Barbara (Dixon, CA), Lauren (Oakland, CA) and Debbi (Windsor, CA). Their stories are moving and sad, as they tell of the circumstances surrounding the death of their children, ranging from suicide to motorcycle accident to gunshot victim. The children were in teens to late twenties and the stories are told in-between what is happening to the women on their 17-day African trip.

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You must see this film. Jennifer Steinman joins us. She's a freelance Film and Video Editor, has over a decade of experience in television and film making. She has established herself professionally as a creative storyteller, with a keen sense of pace and timing and the ability to tap into the heart and emotion of a story. Her latest film is Motherland. The film premieres today at Gigantic Digital.

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Gigantic Digital Cinema has a novel way to distribute their films — They don't. At least not in the traditional way, with films first being released in theaters and then to DVD. Gigantic's films are available for viewers across the nation to stream digitally on the same day they are released in big-city theaters.

Director Jennifer Steinman's Motherland — which will be released strictly online by Gigantic — is in many ways an ideal candidate for this 21st century exhibition style. Its heartbreaking subject matter — the loss of a child — makes it perfect for home viewing. As cathartic as the film can be, no one necessarily wants to find themselves in a movie theater weeping as openly and as often as one does in Motherland.

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