A feature-length documentary
Exploring the untold story of Matrescence as another adolescence and the power this word has to change global maternal experience.
A mother’s search for answers reveals Matrescence - a hidden transformation as powerful and disruptive as adolescence.
Every life begins with a m/other. Yet the transition to m/otherhood, known as matrescence, remains one of the least understood and most overlooked human transitions. In this film Claire Tonti - mother, podcaster, and musician - embarks on a global journey to understand what Matrescence is and why it’s not a recognised physiological and psychological human transition like Menopause and Adolescence. By weaving cutting-edge science and global experts, with insights from communities across the world here in Australia, the UK, New York, and Kenya this film highlights Matrescence as a radical biological, psychological, and spiritual transformation that affects more than just the individual experience of motherhood, but society as a whole.
The women behind the film
Claire Tonti
Executive Producer / Co-Director / Narrator
Claire Tonti is a Naarm based singer songwriter, podcaster and educator. In 2023 she released her debut record Matrescence, successfully touring her songs across Australia, regional Victoria and the UK. In 2024 Claire co-founded the first ever Matrescence Festival with the Arts Council of England & in 2025 held the inaugural Australian festival to Melbourne in partnership with Creative Australia. She is an ambassador for perinatal mental health through COPE & the Gidget Foundation. Claire is also CEO of the media company Big Sandwich and host of two podcasts - the award winning recommendations show Suggestible and her interview show TONTS. where she celebrates women’s stories - talking to writers, experts, thinkers and deeply feeling humans about their lives.
Libby Chow
Executive Producer / Director / Filmmaker
Libby Chow lives with her husband and two teenagers on Wurundjeri Country in Melbourne, Australia. A seasoned video and film creator, Libby brings over two decades of experience to her work. She began her career as a pioneering video journalist at The Age online where she earned a Walkley Award and two Quills. In 2015 she founded her production company, Bee Here Productions, and went on to direct the acclaimed short documentary Giving Voice to Menopause (2021) which premiered at the New York Female Voices Rock Festival. Her most recent film, The Kids Play, screened at the 2024 Melbourne Documentary Festival and received both the Best Social Documentary and Audience Award at the 2024 Doc Screenings International Film Festival in Europe.
Amy Taylor-Kabbaz
Executive Producer / Social Impact Producer
Amy Taylor-Kabbaz is a former-journalist and award-winning producer for 15 years with the ABC, best-selling author, podcast host and Matrescence Facilitator. With an Honours Degree in International Politics and a post-graduate degree in International Development specialising in empowering women in developing countries, she combines research, story-telling and her lived experience to her work, leading cultural and workplace change through her global ‘Mama Rising’ training and a community of thousands of mothers around the world, positioning her as one of the world's leading specialists in the field of Matrescence.
Support our Film
Matrescence: The Hidden World of M/otherhood is more than a film.
It sits at the centre of a Global Movement to ensure the education and understanding of Matrescence is a well-known and seriously considered insight into the transition into m/otherhood, and creates a society that better values and supports m/others and families…