A Mother's Dream

A powerful insight into India's commercial baby surrogate industry

A Mother's Dream Making babies is big business in India. The Akanksha clinic is the largest outfit producing infants for clients, often foreigners, who can't conceive themselves. For the women who get pregnant on demand it's a way of escaping poverty but it's still deeply traumatic. Intimate narratives chart the aspirations and fears of client and surrogate. A sensitive but powerful obdoc exposing the emotional hurdles involved in breaking the laws of Mother Nature.

LaurelFirst Steps Awards Nominee Best Documentary 2013, Germany
LaurelVictor Alexis Thalberg Award 2013, Switzerland
LaurelDokfest Munich Speed Pitch Award 2010, Germany
LaurelVisions du Reel 2013, Switzerland
LaurelFestroia Film Festival 2013, Portugal
LaurelMessage to Man Festival 2013, Russia
LaurelVancouver International Film Festival 2013, Canada
Laurel30th Kasseler Dokfest 2013, Germany
LaurelFilm Festival Max Ophüls 2014
LaurelSolothurner Filmtage 2014

The Producers


Valerie Gudenus is an Austrian filmmaker who is currently based in Switzerland. She discovered her passion for film and video after studying graphic design, working on animations, music videos and a short doc. Ma Na Sapna – A Mother’s Dream is her second feature documentary.

Making The Film


Making this film has been an incredibly intense and enriching experience. When I first met the surrogate mothers in Anand, I remember being immensely touched and impressed by the sheer strength and courage these women muster every day of their lives. I realised that my film would have to tell their personal stories, and by doing so, talk about the value of women and the value of life in general. Recent events in India have again shown the need to tell stories like these. I hope to pass on the voices and the experiences of these women to reflect on the inequality and the co-dependence of today’s civilizations.

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