Leaving Beginnings Behind (2021)

Placed - The Journey Through Foster Care

Placed: The Journey Through Foster Care explores the reality of the Foster Care System that is hidden in plain sight. By going into the homes of foster parents, and asking social care workers for answers, this student documentary sheds light on the real voices and untold stories of the Foster System.

Champagne

The true story of a young teenage girl whose mother is incarcerated for murder. Living in a Catholic Children's home run by an order of nuns, she provides poignant commentary about her mother, her own situation and her outlook for the future.

Attila

Filmmaker Stephen Hosier takes a journey with Richard Csanyi, his childhood friend, as he investigates the life and death of his twin brother Attila, who was found dead on a rooftop in 2020.

Untold Secrets

Gives voice to the experiences of Irish institution survivors and focuses on the life and upbringing of one survivor, Anne Silke. Silke was fostered out of the St. Mary, Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam at the age of 9 to the Killileas, a prominent political family from Tuam. Untold Secrets recounts her often brutal and abusive treatment at the hands of her foster family and reveals never seen before interviews with fellow survivors. Although Silke is now deceased the documentary gives a posthumous voice to Anne and possibly some closure to her family.

My Name Is Faith

This is the story of a 12-year-old girl working hard to overcome a troubling past and accept and embrace the love and possibility that now surround her. Born as Brianna to a drug-addicted mother, she and her baby brother lived in harrowing conditions before being adopted by a young couple fully invested in raising their children to be whole, happy and strong.

Bonkers

Bonnie, a nine-year-old single child, is part of a family of three living in the Netherlands. They have a love of elephants, passed on by Bonnie's grandfather's grandfather who worked on a game reserve in Africa, and Bonnie feels that she instinctively does things like an elephant as a result. Her single mother, Lis, is bi-polar and at times spends days on end without even getting out of bed. Then there are other times when she will manically do wild acts, such as impromptu dancing in public. As a result, Bonnie's sturdy and stable grandmother must hold the family together by doing all the cooking, etc. After her grandmother is killed by a car, Bonnie becomes the most responsible family member and struggles with preparing meals and getting her reluctant mother to take her medication. She also must dodge Jorien, a social worker who is attempting to place her in a foster home.

13th of September, 2004

A 17-year-old kid from South Chicago coexists with his selfish foster mother. On his way to school with his best friend, they discover something that will change their lives forever.

White Oleander

A teenager journeys through a series of foster homes after her mother goes to prison for committing a crime of passion.

Elizabeth's Gift

When a precious little girl dies tragically of a rare heart condition, her grieving parents are left to pick up the pieces of their once perfect life. In a sequence of events influenced by faith (and perhaps miracles), they are guided to a homeless girl on the streets, and a battle ensues to reunite as a family and heal their broken hearts.

Ayla: The Daughter of War

In 1950, amidst the ravages of the Korean War, Sergeant Süleyman stumbles upon a a half-frozen little girl, with no parents and no help in sight and he risks his own life to save her, smuggling her into his army base and out of harm’s way.

Daisy Winters

An eleven year-old girl's unconventional yet deeply loving relationship with her mother is harshly broken. Along her journey, including her quest to discover her father, she learns how to embrace every moment with determination and unrelenting self-confidence.

Home Sweet Home

Three postal workers and their dysfunctional families interact over cups of tea and Sunday dinner.

Like Dandelion Dust

A compelling drama that explores the different meanings of being a parent through the gritty, realistic lives of a struggling family, and a privileged family. Their lives intersect, intertwine and collide, all for the love of a little boy. This film bravely exposes the humanity in each character reminding us that we each have the potential to be the best and worst versions of ourselves at any time.

The Lost & Found Family

When her husband dies, Mrs. Ester Hobbes (Ellen Bry, TV's St. Elsewhere) learns that his wealth was just an illusion. Her only real inheritance is a run-down Southern home occupied by a foster family. Slowly, Mrs. Hobbes finds herself making unexpected connections with rebellious teen Justin (Lucas Till, Hannah Montana: The Movie) and the rest of the unwanted kids. Share the journey of discovery in this touching drama of lives transformed.

The Unloved

Lucy is eleven years old. Having been neglected by her estranged mother and father, she is placed in a children's home. Through her eyes, we follow her struggle to cope with the system; her only saving being her self-belief and certainty that she is being watched over and protected by the holy spirit.

Finding Love in Mountain View

After learning she's been entrusted to take care of her deceased cousin's children, an architect is torn between focusing on her career and honoring her cousin's wish.

A Week Away

Troubled teen Will Hawkins has a run-in with the law that puts him at an important crossroad: go to juvenile detention or attend a Christian summer camp. At first a fish-out-of-water, Will opens his heart, discovers love with a camp regular, and sense of belonging in the last place he expected to find it.

Kathleen Is Here

18-year-old Kathleen is fresh out of foster care. Her departure coincides with the death of her biological mother, so she returns to her hometown to take ownership of her mother’s house. She gets a job and even a friend; but the emptiness of Kathleen’s life cannot be filled by social media and reality shows. Alone and desperate for a mother figure, she sets out on a destructive path to find one.

10½

Tommy, 10 years old, is well known by Social Services. He is considered a danger to society. Gilles, his guardian at this halfway house, sees potential for redemption in this kid driven by violence.

I Can I Will I Did

A bullied adolescent who has spent his life bouncing from foster home to foster home finds new hope with the help of a Tae Kwon Do master and his paraplegic granddaughter.

A Home of Our Own

In 1960s Los Angeles an energetic widow and her six children try to make a dream of theirs come true: to have a home of their own. They leave L.A. and head for the countryside, all the while facing numerous difficulties and obstacles during their journey.

The Reluctant Nanny

IT guru Libby gets more than she bargained for when, after losing her job, she reluctantly agrees to help a cop with fostering two abandoned kids.

Lifemark

David's comfortable world is turned upside down when his birth mother Melissa unexpectedly reaches out, longing to meet the eighteen year old son she's only held once.

Earth Mama

A pregnant single mother, with two children in foster care, embraces her Bay Area community as she fights to reclaim her family.

The Girl

A young Texan mother who loses her child to foster care begins smuggling Mexicans across the border.

Finding a Family

Bright Alex grows up in Michigan proud of his mother, Romanian immigrant Ileana, who became a professor, vowing to make her dream come true by graduating from Harvard. But when mother becomes manic-depressive and repeatedly dumps her medication, Alex each time lands in foster care. At age 16, he gets legal emancipation and vows to take charge of their lives himself

ReMoved

A 10-year-old girl navigates her way through the foster care system, after being removed from her home and separated from her younger brother.

All Saints Day

To stop his oldest brother from drinking himself to death, Ronan enlists the help of their estranged priest brother and long-lost sister, sparking a chaotic family reunion, a botched intervention, and an unexpected journey into forgiveness and reckoning.

A Long Way Home

A married teenager sets out to find his long-lost brother and sister years after all three had been placed with different families following their abandonment by their migrant worker parents. Luckily, he finds a compassionate social worker who, at first reluctantly, decides to help him cut through the bureaucratic red tape.

Homecoming

When their mother disappears, a group of siblings are forced to fend for themselves, and make their way on their own. They eventually meet their grandmother, a loner who is reluctant to take them in.

Age Out

Fresh out of foster care at age 18, a young drifter turns to petty crime to survive, and discovers an impossible love in an unlikely friend.

Per sempre

Short film about foster care promoted by TWINSET.

Color of Love

An African American widow with two kids who has so much love to give, she often fosters children who need a home. She finds out that Peter and Rachel, the white siblings she fostered twice before, fled from their latest foster home.

A Holiday Homecoming

The residents of Hope, NY come to the aid of displaced foster children after St. Jerome's Home for Children has a fire right before Christmas, and many families find the foster children complete their homes.

Short Term 12

Grace, a compassionate young supervisor at a foster care facility, helps at-risk teens. But when a new charge dredges up memories of her own troubled past, Grace's tough exterior begins eroding.

Catimini

Cathy, 6, is taken by a social worker to a foster home in the countryside, where she slowly gets used to the strict rules imposed by her foster mother Réjeanne. Fortunately, her foster father, Reynald, is kind and gentle with the girl and patiently helps her break through her shell. Kayla, 12, is sent to a group home where she gets to know Morgane, a rebellious teenager who’s planning to run away. At about the same time, Manu is released from the system on the day she turns 18, but she finds it difficult to adjust to her solitary existence outside of the system. All four meet up at a reception honoring a foster family with whom they’ve all previously lived.

Found.

"Found" is the story of an innocent teenage boy raised up in the Appalachian Mountains on a small old fashioned homestead devoid of modern conveniences and tucked away from the broader culture at large. Through a sudden tragedy, he suddenly finds himself cast out, alone and adrift into our high-speed, hi-tech modern world until he meets a troubled family who takes him into their home for better or for worse. What he learns about himself and what others around him discover about themselves brings new meaning to the phrase "testing your faith" (James 1:2-4).

Gimme Shelter

After running away from her abusive mother, a streetwise teen seeks refuge with her father, but he rejects her when he learns that she's pregnant.

Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot

Led by Donna and Reverend W.C. Martin, 22 families from a rural Black church in the small East Texas town of Possum Trot adopt 77 of the most difficult-to-place kids in the foster system and kickstart a movement in the process.

Peti Tick-tack

"Everybody has their special someone out there and I will eventually find the one for me" says "Tick Tock" Pete, known and liked by all the locals in his small town of Solymár just outside of the Hungarian capital but considered a special case by most. He takes lonesome daily trips to his favorite spots: having tea at the pub, tending to the horses he adores and the church on main square. Some would say a lonely outcast but he's never bored; if anyone's clock needs fixing, be that a cuckoo or pendulum, they all can but rely on the person whose the most capable in this field: Tick Tock Pete. The only issue is each time he fixes a clock, he'll use parts from another, rendering it useless, a pawn. Something is always missing - no different with our Pete. Is time truly on the clockmaster's side, ever-turning, never-ending? Tick Tock.

The 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concerts

On October 29th and 30th, 2009, rock 'n' roll royalty held court at Madison Square Garden for what have been called 'the best concerts ever,' and 'where rock 'n' roll history was made.' The concerts featured a who's who of rock 'n' roll from the '50s to the '90s and included artists performing together in unprecedented combinations that will most likely never be witnessed again. 'The 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Anniversary Concerts' included sets by Crosby, Stills & Nash; Stevie Wonder; Paul Simon; Simon & Garfunkel; Aretha Franklin; Metallica; U2; Jeff Beck and Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street Band. Joining this iconic line up on stage were special guests including: Jerry Lee Lewis, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Smokey Robinson, B.B. King, Annie Lennox, Lou Reed, John Fogerty, Mick Jagger, Fergie and others. A 4-hour special of the concerts aired on HBO to high ratings, and was seen by tens of millions. Now this historic event is available on DVD.

Monster Camp

Welcome to Monster Camp, the true story about a world where people transform into creatures, heroes, and monsters to escape their daily lives. In the vein of Lord of the Rings, World of Warcraft, and Dungeons and Dragons; these enthusiasts have developed a complicated world to bring their fantasies to life. Romantic relationships are forged between characters. Friendships are destroyed over plot disputes. Characters are slain and never return. But keeping this world alive takes a lot of real world work. And unless someone is willing to take charge, the fantasy may be lost forever.

April in Portugal

Beautiful Jocelyn Lane goes sightseeing in Portugal accompanied by bandleader George Melachrino and his orchestra. Featuring Portugal's top singing star Amália Rodrigues and the world-famous Tagide Club Dancers of Lisbon.

Once Upon a Time... Tchao Pantin

A documentary on the making of Tchao Pantin (1983), featuring interviews with writer-director Claude Berri, novelist Alain Page, stars Richard Anconina, Mahmoud Zemmouri, Agnès Soral, cinematographer Bruno Nuytten and others.

Gjama

“Gjama” is a rarely practiced mourning ritual that was performed by Albanian men throughout the centuries. By shouting specific phrases and acting out a strict choreography, it is a way of paying respect to the deceased but also overcoming grief and pain over the loss of a loved one. Through the documentation of the re-enactment of the ritual, Zgjim Elshani seeks to recover fragments of the practice in the communities where this form of collective grieving is still a way of overcoming loss. By doing so, the project intends to rethink collective grieving and what it means to publicly display emotions in a male-headed society.

The Delights

High school students find their way in life at Las Delicias agrotechnical boarding school in the Argentine countryside. This striking coming-of-age film takes place against an inviting backdrop of fields of crops, greenhouses full of tomato plants, and the somewhat dilapidated school buildings, where dogs and chickens roam.

Non-Toxic Island

Plot unavailable

Quando A Noite É Vermelha

May 2, 2024. Amidst big names from São Paulo's drag scene, a young filmmaker dives into the experience of becoming a drag queen for one night.

Nordeste Água e Óleo

Plot unavailable