Motherland

Motherland traces the experiences of two Jamaican-born Brits who have been forcibly returned to their “home country”, alongside the story of a Windrush-generation man denied re-entry to the UK. Through the personal accounts of those who have had their British identity questioned by the state, MOTHERLAND explores what it really means for someone to “go back home”.

  • Ellen Evans
    Director
    Life in Miniature, Country Girl
  • Alice Hughes
    Producer
    Half Way
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    13 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    December 23, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    12,000 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    Jamaica
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.375:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Distribution Information
  • Verve Pictures
    Country: United Kingdom
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Ellen Evans

Ellen Evans is a documentary filmmaker whose short films have screened at Sundance, SXSW, Hot Docs, Sheffield DocFest and on BBC iPlayer.

In 2017, Ellen was supported by Film Roundhouse as an ‘Emerging Artist’ and in 2018 she was selected for the Indie Training Fund’s ‘Rising Director’s Scheme’. The short film she made on this program - LIFE IN MINIATURE - won the IMDB New Filmmaker Award and a Jury Prize at Aspen ShortsFest. In 2019 she completed COUNTRY GIRL which was funded by the BFI & Doc Society's "Made of Truth" Shorts Program. Ellen is a tutor on the Creative Documentary MFA at the Open City Docs Film School.

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Director Statement

Given the opportunity to make a film about the UK today, I wanted to examine what it means to be “British”, and question: who gets to decide? We left England for Jamaica, to make a film from the perspective of men who have been deemed “not British” by our government, but whose feelings and experiences attest otherwise.