Short of the Week

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Documentary Ellie Wen

Single Mother Only Daughter

A personal documentary capturing a conversation between a mother and daughter that brings them closer.

Play
Documentary Ellie Wen

Single Mother Only Daughter

A personal documentary capturing a conversation between a mother and daughter that brings them closer.

Single Mother Only Daughter

Directed By Ellie Wen
Made In USA

When it comes to emotional documentary subjects, sometimes the simplest approach is the best. This Mother’s Day we are proud to feature this touching short from filmmaker Ellie Wen that explores the relationship between a girl and her single parent. Using the recorded phone conversation between her mother and herself as the driving narrative force behind the film, Wen’s documentary is both personal and intimate, combining photographs and home video clips into something that has a powerful emotional impact.

There’s an old adage in  storytelling: to convey the universal, one must dive into the specific. That’s clearly the case with Wen’s film. By looking at this particular relationship between Wen and her mother, we are given a larger understanding of much bigger ideas—from growing apart from one’s parents to changing a career path in order to make time for your child (something that is a big issue for many career-driven women). By giving us such an intimate look into this one relationship, Wen manages to weave a larger tapestry that is motherhood as a whole.

Like the conversation itself, the film is meandering, but it never loses the viewer’s attention. The cinematic approach might be simple, but the emotions the film evokes are anything but. In a sense, Wen’s film is the opposite of many of the short documentaries we view today. The internet is awash with short docs—many of which feature outstanding production values and gorgeous visuals. But, while those films are lovely to look at, they often offer little in terms of emotional weight. In contrast, Wen’s film is all heart—it overcomes its limited visuals by focusing on something that feels honest and heartfelt. As comedian Mike Birbiglia has been famously quoted, “Cleverness is overrated, and heart is underrated.”

Wen essentially made the film by accident.

As she relates via e-mail,

“I was enrolled in a documentary course at UCLA Extension where we were each supposed to make our own short documentary. I had labored for weeks to choose a subject and prepare for the shoot. Then, on the eve of my shoot, my subject suddenly fell through. But what initially felt like a disaster, ended up being the greatest gift. Up against the deadline, I was forced to think small and look at my own life for inspiration. And so I ended up making an intimate, personal documentary about the complicated relationship between me and my mom.”

And, so, in art—like life—sometimes the most magical things can’t be planned for. In addition to being a filmmaker, Wen is also the director of development at Super Deluxe. So, beyond creating her own films, she is involved with several projects that she’s developing and producing there. Outside of work, she is preparing for the online release of a short documentary series that she created called Doing good Business, which features social businesses from around the world.