2 Billion Mothers Can’t Be Wrong
Watch the Official Trailer
Currently, there are 2 billion mothers in the world — yet the transition into motherhood remains one of the least studied, least understood experiences in human development.
MATRESCENCE follows mother, podcaster and musician Claire Tonti as she investigates why the psychological rupture she experienced after having her children was never named, never explained, and never prepared for.
The Filmmakers
The women behind the film
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Claire Tonti
Director / Executive Producer/Mother
Co-founder of Big Sandwich Media (6M+ monthly views), singer & podcaster. Wrote and produced the concept album Matrescence, and co-produced the world's first Matrescence Festival (Exeter, UK, 2024) and a sold-out Melbourne festival in 2025. Matrescence: The Hidden World of M/otherhood is the first offering from her own independent production company Sheela-Na-Gig.
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Libby Chow
Director/Cinematographer/Mother
Walkley Award-winning video journalist for The Age & The Sydney Morning Herald. She is now an independent filmmaker & videographer. Director of the film Giving Voice to Menopause and the award-winning documentary The Kids Play.
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Amy Taylor-Kabbaz
Executive Producer/Writer/Mother
Global best selling author of Mama Rising and former ABC journalist. A Matrescence thought leader, she has advised global companies including Google & LinkedIn on Matrescence support in the workplace. Amy is also founder of the world's first Matrescence Coaching Training (2019), with 350+ coaches across 29 countries.
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Sonya Pemberton
Consultant Executive Producer
Former Head of Specialist Factual, ABC Television. Emmy Award winner for Immortal (SBS, Smithsonian, National Geographic), featuring Nobel Laureate Elizabeth Blackburn. Two-time Australian Health Journalist of the Year; recipient of the Jill Robb, Thornett and Stanley Hawes Awards. Founder of Genepool Productions
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Nat Bartsch
Film Composer/Mother
Three-time ARIA-nominated Australian pianist and composer who creates lyrical, meditative work that explores the space between classical and jazz genres. Bartsch has been diagnosed with autism and ADHD, and is an advocate for neurodiversity in music.
Why This Film, Why Now
THE MATERNAL MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS IN NUMBERS
96%
of birthing-age women globally are at potential risk of maternal mental health challenges
1 in 3
women in Australia experience birth trauma
#1
Suicide is the leading cause of death for women in the first year postpartum
1 in 5
experience postnatal depression or anxiety
Featuring
A global bench of scientists, clinicians and mothers.
From a Columbia University psychology lab to community health workers in Kenya — meet the voices at the heart of the film.
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Dr Aurélie Athan
Columbia University
The clinical psychologist who resurrected the term "matrescence" — coined by anthropologist Dana Raphael in the 1970s — and reframed it as a developmental milestone as real as adolescence.
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Dr Winnie Orchard
Cognitive Neuroscientist
Completed her post-doctoral fellowship on maternal cognition at Yale University; researches structural change in the maternal brain.
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Dr Oscar Serralach
GP & Author
Australian GP who coined the term "postnatal depletion" — the physical, mental and emotional exhaustion many mothers experience.
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Dr Catherine Birndorf
Reproductive Psychiatrist
Co-Founder, CEO and Medical Director of The Motherhood Center of New York — clinical perspective on perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, and the biology of the baby blues.
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Dr Claire Arnold-Baker
Psychotherapist & Author UK
Author of The Existential Crisis of Motherhood (Palgrave MacMillan), mapping the existential dimensions of new motherhood.
Where the film is now
On the festival circuit, screening from November 2026.
Now
Festival submissions
Submitted to a number of film festivals around the world. Official selections to be announced.
Later 2026
Festival premiere
World premiere at the first confirmed festival, with further festival dates to follow.
From Nov 2026
Community & educational screenings
Tiered screening rollout begins — see the full Festivals & Screenings page for details.
What People Are Saying
Early responses to the film
“This film is a groundbreaking and deeply powerful look inside motherhood that is long overdue.
This is a must-watch not only for mothers, but for fathers, families, workplaces and society as a whole. The impact this film will have on mothers globally will be profound."
Stephanie Trethewey
Founder & CEO, Motherland — 2024 Australian of the Year for Tasmania
“Fresh, revelatory & profoundly significant…"
Sonya Pemberton
Emmy Award Winning Documentary Filmmaker
“I believe this documentary has the power to shift the conversation on maternal wellbeing in lasting ways.”
Dr Aurélie Athan
Clinical Psychologist & Matrescence Expert Columbia University
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…