Private Project

For Mum

“What do I love most about my mum? God. I wish that wasn’t such a difficult question to answer…” A Super 8 short about one of the easiest and most difficult relationships of our lives. Made as part of the Straight 8 initiative - one cartridge of super 8 film, no re-takes, no editing, no grade, no post-production at all. You even make your soundtrack ‘blind’.

  • Julie Mayhew
    Director
    Unknown Number
  • Julie Mayhew
    Writer
  • Julie Mayhew
    Producer
  • Emily Pollet
    Key Cast
    The Witcher, The Devil's Hour
  • Anya Lucker
    Key Cast
    Pinocchio
  • Melissa Berry
    Key Cast
  • Esme Scarborough
    Key Cast
  • Jill Southgate
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    Personal, Relationships
  • Runtime:
    3 minutes 22 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 19, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    750 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Super 8
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Oregon Film Festival
    Portland, Oregon
    United States
    February 26, 2023
    North American Premiere
    Best Micro Film Finalist
  • Doc Heads
    London
    United Kingdom
    February 16, 2023
    UK Premiere
Director Biography - Julie Mayhew

Julie Mayhew is a journalist who became an actress (because she wanted more creative ways to tell stories), who became a scriptwriter (because she couldn’t find enough brilliant roles for women). She is an award-winning novelist, an award-nominated radio dramatist and has written short stories and stage plays to critical acclaim. As an alumnus of the BFI NETWORK x BAFTA Crew programme and an inaugural member of BAFTA Connect, Julie now also writes and directs for the screen.
Julie is a recent recipient of BFI NETWORK Early Development Funding for her feature biopic MADGE; her naturalistic sci-fi fetaure FOR ONLY AN HOUR was a selected project at Stowe Story Labs 2022; and she is currently developing original TV series OFF GRID with Studio21, after it was a Finish Line quarter-finalist, Screencraft Screenwriting semi-finalist, and a Studio21 Drama Series finalist, showcased at Content London 2021.
Her previous short as writer/director UNKNOWN NUMBER played to festivals in London, Paris and Los Angeles last year. She is in post-production on a second super 8 film - a comedy about activisim and hope titled THE GOOD FIGHT.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I lost my mum in the Covid pandemic at the end of 2020 and I wanted to make something about our relationship – which was, at times, hugely complex. I knew I wanted to start with sound, by collecting the voices of other women talking both positively and negatively about their relationships with their mothers, and could see that Super 8 was the perfect nostalgic medium for this documentary story. Sound editor Robin Green helped me construct a beautiful soundtrack that tapped into that feeling too.
The Straight 8 initiative fitted the subject matter perfectly as well – you have one take per shot and you have one mother, one go at things. Whatever happens – that’s your story. The stylised, almost theatrical scenarios I constructed were intended to compliment and contradict the collage of voices, and show how, as daughters, we become our mothers, despite all intentions never to. We had to submit the edited soundtrack before seeing the film so when words and actions collide in the synced piece, there is a certain element of magic at play. The ending we shot isn’t there – the super 8 cartridge ran out and the camera counter was off, so we didn’t know. But again – that feels poetic. I didn’t get the ending I wanted with my mother either.