Social workers dispel myths about why children are removed from their biological parents, breaking down their overwhelming workload. Lawyers uncover the harsh reality of young children navigating the legal system. Advocacy organizations try to keep children safe and away from predators. An eclectic array of interviews from foster care alumni explore their connections (or lack thereof) with social workers, the fragile bond with each foster home, how trust can fall apart, and how those unable to adapt spent time in group homes. The film concludes with alumni success stories, working to remove the stigma of foster care.
Showbiz Kids (2020)
A documentary chronicling the shared experiences of prominent former child stars and the personal and professional price of fame and failure on a child.
Hell Camp: Teen Nightmare (2023)
Out-of-control teens across America were sent to a therapy camp in the harsh Utah desert. The conditions were brutal, but the staff were even worse.
Champagne (1996)
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.
Thomas Hirschhorn – Gramsci Monument (2015)
Thomas Hirschhorn, one of the few Swiss artists of world renown, often touches on social wounds with his provocative works. In 2013, Hirschhorn built a monument for Italian philosopher and communist Antonio Gramsci in a public housing project in the Bronx. The contentious artist collaborated with neighborhood residents whose everyday life is impacted by poverty, unemployment and crime. Conflicts and misunderstandings are bound to arise as Hirschhorn’s absolute devotion to art is confronted with the resident’s lack of prospects and fatalistic outlooks. The «Gramsci Monument» becomes a summer-long experiment where diverse worlds collide: blacks and whites, the art elite and street kids, party people and poets, politicians and philosophers. A nuanced film about art, politics and passion.
By Satan Possessed: The Search for the Devil (1993)
America Undercover looks at the phenomenon of Satanism in the World. It talks to practitioners of Satan worship and interviews those who claim that they have been victimized by it. It also talks to some of the people who want to stamp Satanism out for good. Same doc as 'In Satan’s Name', but with American narration.
The Unbelievable Story of Carl Beech (2020)
The jaw-dropping story of Carl Beech, a former nurse from Gloucester who claimed he had been sexually abused by a group of prominent men in the 1970s and 80s.
Abused: Breaking the Silence (2011)
A group of aging former classmates begin a quest for justice when they learn from one another just how many of them had been abused as schoolboys.
Tarnation (2003)
Filmmaker Jonathan Caouette's documentary on growing up with his schizophrenic mother -- a mixture of snapshots, Super-8, answering machine messages, video diaries, early short films, and more -- culled from 19 years of his life.
Leaving Beginnings Behind (2021)
In her most recent film, Linda Kallistová Jablonská observes three girls growing up in a residential facility in Počátky, Czech Republic, over the course of ten years. She explores their dreams about liberty, the reality they must face as well as their ideas about their own future families. The sequel to her first longitudinal documentary about Adéla, Denisa and Pavla captures the rocky road to independence after leaving the facility, their reconciliation with the past, job search, new relationships, small joys and big disappointments. Not only does the director draw an empathic portrait of three young girls with no-one to rely on but themselves; she also explores the ways in which public institutions form young people’s attitudes to life.
The Family (2016)
Anne Hamilton-Byrne was beautiful, charismatic and delusional. She was also incredibly dangerous. Convinced she was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, Hamilton-Byrne headed an apocalyptic sect called The Family, which was prominent in Melbourne from the 1960s through to the 1990s. With her husband Bill, she acquired numerous children – some through adoption scams, some born to cult members – and raised them as her own. Isolated from the outside world, the children were dressed in matching outfits, had identical dyed blonde hair, and were allegedly beaten, starved and injected with LSD. Taught that Hamilton-Byrne was both their mother and the messiah, the children were eventually rescued during a police raid in 1987, but their trauma had only just begun.
Forever Yours (2011)
Forever Yours is a film about children who have been taken into custody. Through the children, their biological parents and foster parents, the film depicts love in everyday life. The film explores the invisible bond between a child and a biological parent. Even when a child is taken into custody, the yearning for closeness to the biological parents and need for their approval never seems to disappear. This longing is a form of loneliness that the foster parents struggle to overcome. The film describes the entire foster care process: a child being brought into a shelter home, a teenager’s everyday life in a foster family, and siblings preparing to return to their biological mother, after five years in a foster family.
Detainment (2018)
Two ten year-old boys are detained by police under suspicion of abducting and murdering a toddler.
Never Be A Victim (1996)
POLICE OFFICER JIM BYRNE, Canada's most honoured Safety Education Specialist brings you his famous TEN RULES, with which he has personally tested more than 25,000 students. Learn key strategies now taught in many schools and used by police working with the full NEVER BE A VICTIM Institutional Study Program. Develop your own personal streetproofing skills so you can train and test your family. Robert Gordon, who created this remarkable program in partnership with Metropolitan Police introduces this family video library against a backdrop of today's troubled society. TEACHING LIFE SKILLS FOR A SAFER COMMUNITY OFFICER JIM'S TEN RULES FOR STREETPROOFING • STRANGER MYTHS • ABDUCTION • BEING FOLLOWED • DANGEROUS PLACES • AVOIDING CARS AND VANS • GOOD TOUCHING-BAD TOUCHING
Selling the Girl Next Door (2011)
Selling the Girl Next Door takes viewers into the world of underage American girls caught up in the violent sex trade. Thousands of girls under the age of 18 are ensnared into lives of prostitution annually, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Many are runaways or "throwaways" trapped in "the oldest profession" by pimps who sell them using modern sales and marketing techniques, including the online classified website Backpage.com.
The Girl in the Cellar: 8 Years Underground (2023)
In 1998, Natascha Kampusch was abducted in broad daylight at the age of ten and held hostage in a basement for 3096 days. When she escaped in 2006, she was met with mistrust. Explores her story and how conspiracy theories have impacted her life.
Dawnland (2018)
They were forced to assimilate into white society: children ripped away from their families, depriving them of their culture and erasing their identities. Can reconciliation help heal the scars from childhoods lost? "Dawnland" is the untold story of Indigenous child removal in the US through the nation's first-ever government-endorsed truth and reconciliation commission, which investigated the devastating impact of Maine’s child welfare practices on the Wabanaki people.
The Foster Family (2022)
Julia always said that her upbringing as a biological child in a foster family was a happy time. But something is wrong. In The Foster Family, we follow director Julia's journey back in time, where she, together with her parents Ewa and Lennart and the foster child Patrik, recollect the shocking events that changed their lives over thirty years ago. The children are at the center of this strong, touching and warm documentary about a system where you can love, but not too much.