We are currently seeking a producer. To view the pitch deck and treatment, contact: iquo@editifilms.com // 347-857-9224

SYNOPSIS

IDARA OBOT (37), a former schoolteacher and mother of two, returns to her family’s Bronx home after serving eight years in prison for the murder of her newborn baby girl, Adiaha, and the attempted murder of her toddler son, Kufre. Prison has changed her, but she's hopeful for the future. Her anxious mother GRACE OBOT (59) showers her with love, but soon learns how difficult regaining trust in her daughter will be.

Idara struggles to put her life back together, rejoin society, and rebuild relationships with her father AKPAN OBOT (63) and brother IMOH (27). We follow her progress in visits to her therapist, DR. ROBIN (52), and parole officer, GREG (47). Barred from teaching, she gets a job at Denny’s where she befriends a waitress, BLANCA (33), and finds new love with a Trinidadian cook, JUNIOR (42). Wanting to feel like her old self again, she stops taking her meds.

But when a motion to lift the restraining order against visiting her son is denied, her ex-husband, OBI (43), threatens to violate her parole if she tries to contact him. Distraught, Idara spirals into a major depression. In the hospital, haunted by her daughter’s death, she seeks redemption from the only person who can give it—her estranged son, KUFRE (12).

Genre: Drama

Format: 90-min feature

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

Mother-child relationships are incredibly important in my work. I became interested in exploring the relationship of a mother to her deceased child—particularly as complicated by the fact that she killed the child in a bout of postpartum psychosis. As I dug deeper and deeper into this topic, I discovered many cases of this in the news and realized how under-told the story of postpartum depression and psychosis is in popular media. I think of this story as a character study of a woman who has lost her family by her own hands, but must regain her family/community to find herself amid crippling grief and depression. This kind of psychological journey reminds me of Eva Khatchadourian’s journey in Lynne Ramsay’s We Need to Talk About Kevin, and I envision telling this story in a similar nonlinear style. I’m also intrigued by the impact of Idara’s culture, ethnicity, and immigration status on her parole and reentry into society.

-- Iquo B. Essien, Writer & Director