A MOTHER’S LOVE

Directed by Harald Schwarzenbacher. 21min 10sec

Biography – Harald Schwarzenbacher

I completed the degree program “Digital Television” at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences, graduating as Dipl. Ing. in 2009. During my studies, I worked on more than ten short films in various roles, and I directed and co-developed the screenplay for four of them. In 2009, I completed my graduation film, for which I wrote, edited, produced, and directed the entire project myself.
I had already begun working as an assistant director on an early-evening TV series during my studies. This became the starting point for what is now a 12-year career as an assistant director on various projects and for different broadcasters. During this time, I was able to gain extensive experience in the planning and execution of film productions.
Over the past 15 years, I have had the privilege of working with some of the best and most renowned television directors in Germany. Through this experience and the strong collaborations, I was able to learn a great deal and develop my own approach. These experiences, combined with my personal growth, have prepared me for the next step in my artistic and professional development: becoming a director.

Director Statement

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

Mother’s Love is, at its core, a family drama about the most intimate and least questioned bond we know: the love between a mother and her child. The film follows Beate, a woman torn between grief for her deceased daughter and her conflicted feelings toward her young son—who bears partial responsibility for the tragic accident that tore their family apart.

How unconditional is a mother’s love? And what happens when the unthinkable challenges a bond we are taught to believe is absolute?

In our culture, motherhood is idealized. Mothers are expected to be selfless, forgiving, and endlessly resilient. But behind these expectations lie hidden sacrifices—needs pushed aside, emotions suppressed, identities quietly abandoned. Mother’s Love exposes the fragile, human truth behind this ideal: that a mother is not an archetype, but a person shaped by her own history, her own wounds, and her own limits.

My connection to this story is deeply personal. My father died when I was two. My mother—suddenly alone with three sons—gave up much of her own life to hold the family together. Only years later did I understand the weight she carried, and the unspoken expectations that shaped both her life and mine.

This film began with a simple question: What if a child causes an irreversible tragedy? But what truly drove me was the follow-up question few dare to ask: How does the mother live with it? What does grief do to her love? And is she still allowed to be human when the world demands she remain a symbol?

With Mother’s Love, I aim to strip motherhood of its mythology and explore the raw, uncomfortable emotional territory that lies beneath. The film is not about judgment—it is about empathy. It invites the audience to sit with a woman at her breaking point and to witness a love that is shaken, complicated, and painfully real.