TVP co-production ‘The Promise of a Happy Childhood’ directed by Ryszard Kaczyński and Piotr Morawski was awarded Child and Family Award at the 11th Al Jazeera International Documentary Film Festival.
fot. TVP
Letting small children for adoption to other people is always a risk, especially when the new ‘parents’ are foreigners. The story begun in the 90’s, when an American couple came to Poland to adopt five siblings. Soon after the adoption trial verdict, the children landed in St. Louis.
The first documentary that was made , titled ‘Tata, I love you’, was awarded at many different festivals. It presented the beginning of the new life for the orphans.
A few years later there was another production , ‘House by the Mississipi’, which presented problems arising in the newly formed family. The directors wanted to continue the story of the five children in order to find out how they were coping with the new reality, how their were adapting to living in the USA.
This new production presents the lives of those siblings after more than 15 years. Their life stories were not as happy and promising as everyone would think. They experienced humiliation, abuse, and got separated from one another really fast by their adoptive parents. The directors of the documentary organized a meeting of all the siblings, which turned out to be a really emotional but at the same time dramatic event for all of them.
The production is aimed at presenting the problem of irresponsible adoption of orphans. Apart from being awarded in Qatar, ‘The Promise of a Happy Childhood’ also won acclaim at various festivals in Poland, and the USA, especially in Chicago and New York.