Mariska Hargitay Shares What Her Mom Would Think of Emotional Documentary

And though the 61-year-old—whose mother died when she was just 4 years old—pursued the project to learn more about her mother, she felt the way other people responded to it was the most touching. 

“The thing that has made me most happy is that the people that I have shared the story with have said, ‘I went to a movie to see about your mother, and I left thinking about my family,’” she explained. “That's what I wanted it to be, an invitation to people to go to the uncomfortable places and find out what's there, because, as I found out, it was very different from what I thought. And it was so beautiful, and there was so much love. So I reframed that.”

In terms of undertaking the project itself, Mariska—who shares kids August, 18, Amaya, 14 and Andrew, 13, with husband Peter Hermann—explained how she felt “ready” despite her only previous directing credits being from episodes of Law & Order. 

“Directing television and a documentary are two very different things, but I felt ready,” she detailed. “I got the blessing of my family, and I started to see things differently than I had, the way I had lived with the story before, and so it felt like a lot of integration was happening. I was ready to go in, and with the support of my family, I was like, ‘let's do it.’”

Mariska’s film, which hits theaters June 20 and will be available to stream on Max June 27, may be one of the most personal to premiere this year, but it’s far from the only. Keep reading to see every film to add to your 2025 watchlist… 

—Reporting by Emily Curl