Continuing our series of interviews with filmmakers in our Emerging Visions section, we bring you a few choice words with Motherland director Jennifer Steinman:

Hi Jennifer. So, tell us about your film.

Motherland follows the journey of six diverse American mothers, each grieving the death of a child, as they travel to Africa to work as volunteers with children in need. We filmed the whole trip, from America to Africa and back home again, and the idea was to test the theory that "giving is healing." I think ultimately this film is a story about the universal experience of grief, about what it means to "heal" when you lose some one you love, and about finding hope and positive meaning after a tragedy when it happens to you.

How do you think your film will stand out at SXSW 2009?

Well, I've been told that my film is the tearjerker of the festival... hopefully that's a good thing! :) I hope that, even though the subject matter can be somewhat hard, the film really stands out as being about hope and healing in a time when most of us could really use those things. I think Motherland is particularly timely with the election of President Obama and his message of hope/change/calling us all to service-- the film really addresses this idea that giving of ourselves in service can be a healing thing to do, both personally and together as a community.

What are you most looking forward to about SXSW?

I feel so honored to be a part of SXSW and to finally get to share my film with the world. I will have 3 of the women subjects of my film with me, so I am really excited for them to get to be a part of it all and to watch them get the acknowledgement they deserve for being the amazing, brave women that they are. And just reading the calendar of events gets me so excited! I can't wait to meet all the other filmmakers and see the other films. I think Janet Pierson and her staff have done such an amazing job programming the festival this year, and they really, truly have championed the true independent filmmakers.