On Wednesday, September 9th, 2026, HOLDTIGHT's latest film project, mother : un/tethered, will make its Colorado Premiere!
This film completes HOLDTIGHT's un/tethered trilogy with a genre-defying art-documentary exploring motherhood, the female body, and humanity's relationship to the Earth. The film is the third and final installment of our un/tethered trilogy, a body of work four years in the making that has brought together hundreds of Coloradans in exploration of our collective ties to one another and the natural world.
Premiere at Sie FilmCenter, Denver, CO
Wednesday, September 9, 2026
6:15pm Pre-Screening Lobby Hang, Film Screening at 7pm followed by post-show Artist Talk-Back
Film Synopsis:
mother : un/tethered tells the story of three women, three phases of motherhood, and the paradox of holding grief and joy alongside beauty and hardship when it comes to mothering.
Part art-documentary, part dance film, mother : un/tethered follows three female artists, Bailey Harper, Chelsea Retzloff, and Divya Maus, as they navigate deeply personal relationships to motherhood across the birth, life, and death cycle. Through evocative movement, original music, singing, and intimate interview, the film asks each of its subjects to respond to the prompt: "When I think about my mother..." in terms of familial mother, inner mother, archetypal mother, and Mother Earth.
Shot in breathtaking mountainous and oceanic landscapes across Colorado and California, mother : un/tethered weaves the female body into the body of the earth, drawing a through-line between the way we treat our mothers and the way we treat the planet that sustains us. The film asks: what do we take for granted? What have we forgotten to honor? And what becomes possible when we finally stop and acknowledge what and who we cannot live without?
Credits
Director, Editor: Gwendolyn Gussman
Cinematographer, Editor: Alex Taylor
Cast: Bailey Harper, Chelsea Retzloff, Divya Maus
Original Musical Score: Daniel Weidlein
Produced by HOLDTIGHT
Supported in part by Denver Creates Grant, Denver Arts & Venues
With thanks to The Rocky Mountain Land Library for providing one of the shoot locations!
About the un/tethered Trilogy
mother : un/tethered completes the un/tethered trilogy, alongside together : un/tethered (premiered April 2024, Denver Arts & Venues) and alone : un/tethered (premiered December 2024, Newman Center for the Performing Arts). Developed since 2022 and inspired by the work of environmental scientists, eco-psychologists, artists, and activists, un/tethered has transformed audiences from removed spectators into empathetic participants across all three of its parts.