FLOW

Flow is a short film about a young woman who wrestles with her identity after losing her ability to have children.

It explores themes of motherhood, grief & healing. The film is led by award-winning creatives Kate Vinen, Katherine Shearer & Adam Daniel.

Directed by award-winning writer/director Kate Vinen, Flow is a personal story of loss and self-reclamation, that explores the societal pressures placed on women and how they are often judged and devalued when they cannot fulfil narrow, patriarchal roles. In a world that frequently defines women by their capacity for motherhood, Flow explores the profound psychological and emotional impact of infertility on personal identity. The narrative follows a young woman who, after a life-altering diagnosis, finds herself alienated from the life she once knew. Seeking peace and renewal, she turns to the ocean pool—a place where she finds freedom and the rediscovery of the self outside of societal constraints. The project will be filmed over four days in the dramatic, coastal Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, Australia. Kate and cinematographer Simon Koloadin have carefully selected the ideal locations that will bring this story to life.

Lianne Mackassy (Three Thousand Years of Longing) has been cast to play the lead role in Flow. Kate previously directed Lianne in Hopeful Romantic, which won five awards at Australian Women's Film Festival.

Vinen’s directorial approach, combining intimate, evocative visuals with raw emotional performances, will create a powerful cinematic work. Flow seeks to challenge the narrative that a woman’s value is tied solely to her ability to bear children. The film offers a message of resilience and self-discovery, and speaks to the current cultural landscape, where comments like those from public figures such as JD Vance—who labeled childless women as “cat ladies” and implied that they lack societal value—reflect a pervasive mindset. Flow critiques these reductive views, offering instead a nuanced meditation on how deeply ingrained cultural and social expectations diminish women who deviate from normative paths of motherhood.