Annual Top Films Lists

Top 150 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2019: #128. I Am Mother – Grant Sputore

Published on January 1, 2019

I Am Mother

Australia’s Grant Sputore makes a high profile directorial debut with I Am Mother, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi feature produced by Kelvin Munro of Penguin Empire and Timothy White of Southern Light Alliance. A recent In Progress screening took place at the Adelaide Film Festival. Cinematographer Steve Annis (who has lensed many a music video, including songs by Calvin Harris and Florence + the Machine) serves as DoP, and the film’s cast features Hilary Swank, Clara Rugaard and the voice of Rose Byrne.

Gist: Written by Michael Lloyd Green, a teenage girl (Rugaard) has grown up underground, raised by a robot named Mother (Byrne), who was designed to help repopulate the Earth following an extinction level event. When a woman drenched in blood (Swank) unexpectedly makes an appearance, the girl questions everything she has been told about the outside world.

Release Date/Prediction: I Am Mother will be unleashed in the Premieres program at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.