The selection committee gathered by the Bulgarian National Film Center was composed of actress Maria Balakova, film critic and festival organiser Katerina Lambrinova, film programmer and festival organiser Hristo Hristozov director and animator Svilen Dimitrov, producer Katya Trichkova, director and producer Kristina Grozeva, and cinematographer Ivan Chertov

The plot of Mother recreates the unique life story of Elena Panayotova, a close friend of the director, whom she filmed in her 2006 documentary Modus Vivendi. Sophia shares the belief that “although Elena, an award-winning theatre director, herself couldn’t conceive, she is now perceived as ‘mother’ by thousands of children on two continents”. For years her humanitarian project Artists for Children has been helping orphans in Bulgaria and Kenya to develop their creative skills through theatre and art.

Sophia wrote Mother together with Miglena Dimova–Kumitski.

The film is produced by Bulgaria’s MQ Pictures and coproduced with Croatia’s Focus Media, Germany’s Ostlicht Filmproduktion and Bulgaria’s Nu Boyana, with support from the Bulgarian National Film Center, the Croatian Audiovisual Centre and MDM Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung.

Mother was developed at ScriptEast and later shot in Bulgaria and Kenya.