Suzi Yoonessi’s deeply personal feature brings a compelling portrait of motherhood, responsibility and reinvention to the festival where it made its world premiere.

With its richly complicated central character, impressive ensemble and deeply personal roots, Mother Wolf stands out in Woodstock’s 2026 programme as a film with something meaningful to say about the women who hold families together. Starring Academy Award winner Melissa Leo, Suzi Yoonessi’s independent feature places an older woman’s responsibilities, frustrations and desires at the centre of a story that deserves attention.

The film’s world premiere at the Woodstock Film Festival was a particularly fitting homecoming. Shot in Woodstock, including at Leo’s own home, Mother Wolf has a close connection to the community that welcomed its debut. That sense of personal investment extends throughout the project, with Leo also serving as a producer.

Leo stars as Babs, a retired teacher whose expectations for the next chapter of her life are upended when she becomes responsible for her free-spirited daughter’s children. Having already raised a family, she finds herself answering its demands all over again. It is a wonderfully rich starting point, bringing the instinct to protect into conflict with an equally understandable longing for freedom.

Surrounding Leo is an appealing ensemble that includes Kat Cunning, Arian Moayed, Jodi Long, Mary Stuart Masterson and Matt Walsh. Together with its personal origins and independent production, that depth of talent makes Mother Wolf a particularly compelling title within the Woodstock lineup.

Its strongest distinction, however, lies in the woman at its centre. Babs deserves to be understood in all her complexity: as a mother, a grandmother and a person whose own life still matters. By making room for her unfinished dreams, Mother Wolf gives Woodstock a story worth celebrating.

What makes

★★★★★ — Five stars

Margaret Brown