barry crerar and Tara Films are thrilled to announce that their feature documentary
Matrescence, directed by Emmy and BAFTA-nominated director Kathryn
Ferguson and currently in production, is a recipient of a Sundance Institute 2026
Documentary Fund grant.
The fund supports nonfiction storytellers from across the globe in the creation of
feature-length documentaries that drive cultural and social impact. This year, 19
projects were selected to receive over $1 million in unrestricted funding.
Adapted from the ground-breaking and critically acclaimed book Matrescence - on
the Metamorphosis of Pregnancy, Childbirth and Motherhood by award-winning
science journalist and author Lucy Jones, the film was also pitched at CPH:FORUM
March 2026, where it won the Sandbox Films Science Pitch Prize.
First coined in 1973 by anthropologist Dana Raphael the word “matrescence” encompasses the physical, psychological, emotional and social changes brought about during pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period - comparable to adolescence.
The film explores this topic through intimate personal testimony, drawing on threads
from history, philosophy and politics. It’s fiery, it’s political and it’s underpinned by
groundbreaking science.
With development support received from Screen Scotland and Sandbox Films, early
production filming has taken place at UC Santa Barbara with evolutionary biologist
Amy Boddy, and neuroscientists at the Ann S. Bowers Women's Brain Health Initiative,
led by Emily Jacobs.
At a time when maternal mental health is increasingly in the media headlines, the new
film will form a part of a wider cultural reckoning around the way we treat mothers. In
the UK the 2026 MBRRACE-UK report confirmed that maternal mortality has risen
20% since 2010, and that mental health conditions, including suicide remain the
leading cause. of death in the year following childbirth. Meanwhile in the US, maternal
mortality is the highest of any developed nation and according to the NIH more than
80% of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable. Matrescence steps directly into
this urgent, transatlantic moment, drawing on science and lived experience to ask how
we might do better.
Kathryn Ferguson - Director, said: “We are delighted that Sundance Institute is backing Matrescence for production funding. As Sundance alumni filmmakers, it's a great honour to continue our relationship with this support.
"Throughout development and now into production, we've watched the growing news coverage of the systemic failings mothers face postpartum, set against the radical new science working to understand matrescence and protect women from those failings in the first place. Motherhood under systems shaped by patriarchy, racism and capitalism isn't working. Giving voice to the scientists, lobbyists, and grassroots organisers driving meaningful change in a flawed system is exactly why this film needs to exist, in the spirit of the book that inspired it.”
Dani Carlaw - Head of Unscripted, Screen Scotland, said: "Matrescence is exactly
the kind of bold theatrical documentary we want to see originating from Scotland —
creatively distinctive, internationally ambitious and capable of reaching audiences
worldwide. We’re delighted to see Sundance recognise the team’s vision for a film that
brings together science, lived experience and cinema to deepen our understanding of
motherhood."
MATRESCENCE is a co-production led by Sundance alumni, barry crerar’s Rosie Crerar (Everybody to Kenmure Street, Sebastian, Girl) and Tara Films’ Eleanor Emptage (Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist, Nothing Compares, Blue Road - The Edna O'Brien Story) and directed by Tara Films co-founder and Emmy-nominated director, Kathryn Ferguson, best known for her BIFA and IFTA-award-winning documentary, Nothing Compares, about Irish musician Sineád O’Connor and BAFTA-nominated / IFTA-winning short film, Nostalgie, starring Aidan Gillen.