ONE WEEK ABOUT Kaboom Animation Festival
The annual Kaboom Animation Festival – from 13 to 22 March in Utrecht, Amsterdam and online – presents the latest, most creative, innovative and daring national and international animation productions with the theme ‘Human Touch’. Over the coming days, we will be showcasing a number of the Dutch participants, today Juliana Erazo.
Unlearning Motherhood
Dolores is a single, independent woman who has always feared losing her freedom to motherhood. When a missed period trigger her anxiety, she heads to the drugstore for a pregnancy test. What begins as a simple errand becomes a transformative journey, as she unexpectedly overhears and engages in unexpected conversations with women, about their unconventional stories of motherhood. Through her imagination, we witness Dolores’s evolving perspective as she gradually reshaping her views on motherhood. By the end of this journey, Dolores feels empowered to envision her future and make her own choices, free of guilt.
Director’s Statement
Unlearning Motherhood is an animated documentary that shares the experiences of six women—both cisgender and transgender—who redefine what motherhood can mean. The fictional character Dolores serves as a thread connecting these real-life stories of postpartum depression, being child-free, adoption, abortion, and transgender motherhood. Through these diverse perspectives, the film invites viewers to reconsider conventional ideas of motherhood.
The film maintains a calm, introspective mood, with a slow, observational pace that leaves room for silence and reflection. I hope the audience takes away a message of growth, enlightenment, and learning. Dolores’s perceptions contrast with her visualizations of each woman’s story, reflecting her evolving emotional state. As the film progresses, these two worlds merge, symbolizing her personal growth and openness to learning from others’ experiences. This journey reflects my own process in making the documentary, as I confronted and broadened my own view of motherhood.
