Coming to theatres today, Friday, December 13:
FINDING THE WAY HOME
Directors:
Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
World Premiere:
NYC (December 2019)
About:
The stories of several formerly institutionalized children who were given a second chance.
Globally, children fall prey to disreputable or illegal orphanages or other institutions that promise desperate parents a better environment and educational opportunities but instead neglect, abuse, or traffic their sons and daughters for profit. Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill profile eight children, some with disabilities, who fortunately escaped this dark fate through the efforts of organizations that help to reunite families, find foster parents, and shut down criminal enterprises. Bringing viewers to far-flung lands including Moldova, Nepal, and Haiti, the doc offers heartbreaking stories of exploitation and greed, balanced with hopeful outcomes. The most eye-opening segment follows a Haitian pastor who has had his squalid orphanage closed by authorities, but goes on to open an equally overcrowded and filthy new children’s home. Taking a survey approach that unfortunately proves limiting, Alpert and O’Neill offer only brief sketches of the youth and their guardians, and unfortunately are unable to go into much detail, but the film still proves affecting.
