The hope of finding a mother is long gone for me. So what should I do with all this longing? After Mihaela reaches out to filmmaker Rachel Taparjan to help her find her birth mother, they set off for Romania, returning to the orphanage where they were both adopted. What Mihaela uncovers in the search makes her question her entire identity. It also draws Rachel into her own journey through her family’s past, unveiling a painful legacy that has loomed over its women, which they shared despite the separation. However, reality comes with a sense of loss. When Rachel finally meets her family, it’s unlike the imagined scenarios she once had. Seeking to linger in the world of possibility, and perhaps find some clarity or catharsis, she enlists actresses to sit in for her mother. In this intriguing exercise, multiple ‘mothers’ fill the empty chair across from her. Using filmmaking as both inquiry and a gesture of care, Rachel traces absence, trauma, and the bonds of family. She asks: Can self-authorship rewrite familiar narratives?