Young Mothers

YOUNG MOTHERS

(Jeunes Mères)

Directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne

YOUNG MOTHERS (Jeunes Mères), the latest feature from celebrated Belgian auteurs Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, will screen as part of the AFIFEST’s Luminaries showcase on Thursday, October 23, 6:15 pm at TCL Chinese 3 Theatre, Hollywood, followed by a Q&A with Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne moderated by Mimi Brody.

Following its world premiere in Competition at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where it received the Best Screenplay Award and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, the film continues its international festival journey to Los Angeles audiences.

YOUNG MOTHERS has been selected as Belgium’s official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards.

Produced by Les Films du Fleuve, in co-production with Archipel 35 and The Reunion, handled internationally by Goodfellas and distributed in the US by Music Box Films.

Set in a shelter for teenage mothers on the outskirts of Liège, YOUNG MOTHERS follows five young women - Jessica (Babette Verbeek), Perla (Lucie Laruelle), Julie (Elsa Houben), Ariane (Janaïna Halloy Fokan), and Naïma (Samia Hilmi) - as they navigate the challenges of caring for their infants while confronting uncertain futures. Through the Dardennes’ signature blend of realism and moral urgency, the film offers a deeply empathetic window into the resilience of young women seeking stability and connection in a world of fragile support.

“We went in to research a maternity home with the idea of one character. Then we saw the life there, the five or six young mothers. And this was new for us, to envisage a whole group. We were attracted by it. We didn’t want to do a choral ensemble piece. We wanted each to have their story. And we decided that there would be light at the end of each tunnel. Sometimes a fragile, feeble light. But we didn’t want failure,” said Luc Dardenne.

Shot with the Dardennes’ hallmark intimacy and emotional restraint, YOUNG MOTHERS continues the brothers’ legacy of humanist cinema, following their Palme d’Or-winning films Rosetta and The Child, and their acclaimed Two Days, One Night. Critics have described the new work as “a compelling return to their hallmark style of social realism, infused with gentleness, compassion, and understated storytelling…The film captures the raw emotional complexities of teen motherhood with grace and clarity, highlighting both the resilience of the young women and the burden carried by their older counterparts.” _ The Guardian (Peter Bradshaw)

Since its Cannes debut, YOUNG MOTHERS has screened at major international festivals including Edinburgh, San Sebastián, and Film Festival Cologne, where it was praised for its ensemble of first-time actors and its uncompromising honesty.