Invited project from Liverpool Biennial 2025: BEDROCK
Dear Othermother is a new film which tells a personal tale of single motherhood in Toxteth, Liverpool by BAFTA Scholar and filmmaker Amber Akaunu. This autobiographical documentary-style film is inspired by the African proverb ‘it takes a village to raise a child’, and centres around single parents and their best friends who have built alternative ‘villages’ through which they collectively raise their children.
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About the Artist
Amber Akaunu is a Liverpool born Nigerian-German filmmaker working across cinema and art to document and imagine Black regional stories.
Her work has previously exhibited at Iniva (Can Publications be Porous?, 2023) and screened at festivals including London Short Film Festival (LSFF x T A P E Collective: Bonded 3.0, 2024).
Amber’s recent film, Dear Othermother, was commissioned and exhibited as part of Liverpool Biennial 2025, with funding from BFI Doc Society. The film is her personal take on single motherhood, friendship and matriarchal connectivity in Liverpool 8, one of the UK’s oldest Black communities and where Amber is from. Dear Othermother was highlighted by Harper’s Bazaar, naming Amber as “one of the brightest stars of the festival.”
Amber holds a BA in Fine Art and an MA in Film and was awarded the BAFTA Kirsh scholarship for her postgraduate studies at Goldsmiths.
