Motherboard (2025)

Joys, sorrows and life’s great tragicomedy told in a video diary about motherhood and much more, recorded over nearly 20 years by award-winning British director, and single mother, Victoria Mapplebeck.

Motherboard is a unique self-portrait charting the real-life comedy and roller coaster of solo parenting. Victoria captures a life where both she and Jim survive her breast cancer diagnosis, two generations of absent fathers and Jim’s rollercoaster teen years with a gallows sense of humour and an irrepressible ability to turn lemons into lemonade.

The film navigates the trials and traumas of unromanticised parenting, where chaos rules.

Honest, funny and infinitely relatable, Motherboard is the antidote to the unrealistic expectations we have about parenthood, and a film for anyone who wants to see family life in all its unfiltered glory.

“A tender, intimate, funny and entirely absorbing full-scale feature documentary”

The Guardian ★★★★

“A magic spell of a film: a remarkable example of how filmmaking and montage can capture the essential essence of a life”

Empire ★★★★

“Joyous, lovely..a rich and gladdening film”

Financial Times ★★★★