Given Away
Jul 23, 2019 | IMDB 0
16 min Watch NowDocumentary
What does it mean to adopted and brought up far away from your country of birth? In “Given Away,” this week’s moving new Op-Doc by directors Glenn and Julie Morey, Korean adoptees who grew up in Western countries reflect on the complicated emotional terrain that they’ve navigated in their lives. Glenn Morey was himself adopted from Korea in the wake of the Korean war, and the directors have channeled that connection to create a beautifully nuanced and emotional film. As the Moreys write of Glenn’s experience interviewing adoptees, “He has needed others like him … to help him make sense of his life. They have also helped him make peace with the universe.”
MOVIE COMMENTS
SIMILAR MOVIES
Through Your Eyes
De Chinese keizerin
Save My Seoul
A Quiet Girl
Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992
Discovering Dominga: A Survivor's Story
On Putin's Blacklist
Wonder Boy
LA 92
Aka Dan
My Flesh and Blood
Lenin kam nur bis Lüdenscheid - Meine kleine deutsche Revolution
Geographies of Kinship
Adoption International: A Global Scandal
Three Identical Strangers
Tribu
Faire famille
Me & You
Twinsters
Songs of Love from Hawaii
SIMILAR MOVIES
Through Your Eyes
IMDB 0 | Feb , 2026
In an effort to understand where she came from, Fabiola asked a question that became the central phrase of the film: what would my life have been like if I'd stayed in Haiti? Taking as her starting point her biological mother's precarious economic situation, she had no choice but to entrust her daughter to her care. Fabiola could have ended up restavek, or in a loving foster family, or on the streets abandoned to her fate, or adopted abroad.De Chinese keizerin
IMDB 0 | Sep , 2024
Despite the warm images in the family archive, photographer and filmmaker Jonnah misses an intimate bond with her (adoptive) parents. Over the years, a wall has been built between them that Jonnah is now trying to break down with her parents.Save My Seoul
IMDB 3 | Apr , 2017
Eddie and Jason, two Korean-American brothers get in over their heads when they are called to Korea to make a short film on prostitution and sex-trafficking. Things get complicated when they meet Crystal and Esther, two prostitutes who reveal just how deep the problem goes and set off on a dangerous mission to capture the truth. With the use of hidden cameras and access to pimps, johns, and sex-workers, the filmmakers explore and unravel the complexity of the sex trade in Seoul. They learn that this problem is rooted in issues far deeper than exploited girls and lustful men. Instead, it's a consequence of a culture and government that condones and turns a blind eye to the biggest human injustice of our time.A Quiet Girl
IMDB 0 | Mar , 2024
Adopted Montreal filmmaker Adrian Wills discovers, on camera and in real time, the startling truths of his complex beginnings in Newfoundland. Shocking details drive Wills to the core of his birth mother’s resilience, and ultimately his own. In this moving feature documentary that combines 16mm footage and contemporary images with deeply personal conversations, Wills’ voyage transforms from an urgent search for identity into a quest to give a quiet girl her voice.Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992
IMDB 7.6 | Apr , 2017
An in-depth look at the culture of Los Angeles in the ten years leading up to the 1992 uprising that erupted after the verdict of police officers cleared of beating Rodney King.Discovering Dominga: A Survivor's Story
IMDB 0 | Jun , 2003
Denese Joy Becker, a manicurist living in Iowa, discovers she is indeed Dominga Sic Ruiz, a survivor from a 1982 Guatemalan massacre, when more than 200 people were killed in the small village of Rio Negro, after opposing the construction of a dam, sponsored by World Bank. She then tries to unveil the truth.On Putin's Blacklist
IMDB 1 | Oct , 2017
Traces the new Cold War between Russia and the West from the ban on American citizens adopting Russian children to the Kremlin’s anti-LGBTQ campaign, which positions the international marriage equality movement as a national threat.Wonder Boy
IMDB 6.7 | Nov , 2019
At age 25, Olivier Rousteing was named the creative director of the French luxury fashion house, Balmain. At the time, Rousteing was a relatively unknown designer, but in the decade since, he’s proven his business prowess and artistic instinct by leading Balmain to new heights. Wonderboy gives the viewer the rare opportunity to experience the inner sanctum of the fashion world, as we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with this extraordinary individual while he works.LA 92
IMDB 7.8 | Apr , 2017
Twenty-five years after the verdict in the Rodney King trial sparked several days of protests, violence and looting in Los Angeles, LA 92 immerses viewers in that tumultuous period through stunning and rarely seen archival footage.Aka Dan
IMDB 0 | Feb , 2014
YouTube musician and Korean American adoptee Dan Matthews travels to South Korea to perform and reunite with his biological family, including a long lost twin he never knew he had.My Flesh and Blood
IMDB 8.1 | Apr , 2003
My Flesh and Blood is a 2003 documentary film by Jonathan Karsh chronicling a year in the life of the Tom family. The Tom family is notable as the mother, Susan, adopted eleven children, most of whom had serious disabilities or diseases. The film itself is notable for handling the sensitive subject matter in an unsentimental way that is more uplifting than one might expect.Lenin kam nur bis Lüdenscheid - Meine kleine deutsche Revolution
IMDB 6 | Feb , 2008
The free, almost naive view from the perspective of a child puts the "68ers" in a new, illuminating light in the anniversary year 2008. The film is a provocative reckoning with the ideological upbringing that seemed so progressive and yet was suffocated by the children's desire to finally grow up. With an ironic eye and a feuilletonistic style, author Richard David Precht and Cologne documentary film director André Schäfer trace a childhood in the West German provinces - and place the major events of those years in completely different, smaller and very private contexts.Geographies of Kinship
IMDB 0 | Nov , 2019
In this powerful tale about the rise of Korea’s global adoption program, four adult adoptees return to their country of birth and reconnect with their roots, mapping the geographies of kinship that bind them to a homeland they never knew.Adoption International: A Global Scandal
IMDB 9 | Nov , 2024
In the collective imagination, international adoption evokes images of children being saved from a life of destitution in poorer countries by being adopted by families in Europe or America. But the reality that has emerged is one of child trafficking, falsified documents and governments around the world turning a blind eye.Three Identical Strangers
IMDB 7.3 | Jun , 2018
New York, 1980. Three complete strangers accidentally discover that they're identical triplets, separated at birth. The 19-year-olds' joyous reunion catapults them to international fame, but also unlocks an extraordinary and disturbing secret that goes beyond their own lives – and could transform our understanding of human nature forever.Tribu
IMDB 0 | Sep , 2022
Ruben and Gio have been recently adopted by Evelyn and Memo. The four of them try to create a home where the past, the bad and good stories, and the dreams in common for the future blend all together.Faire famille
IMDB 0 | May , 2023
What's it like to "make a family" when you're not part of the traditional hetero couple? Can two best buddies living on the same floor become a family? Océan and his best friend Sophie-Marie Larrouy will question their friendship, their desire for children and their ability to commit to each other, going to meet people who have made families "differently" to draw inspiration from them and invent their own model.Me & You
IMDB 8 | Jul , 2014
Jackie Miller adopted her son, Scott, in the early 1970s. In 2008, Scott brought his mom to StoryCorps to ask her about that decision.Twinsters
IMDB 7.3 | Jul , 2015
Adopted from South Korea, raised on different continents & connected through social media, Samantha & Anaïs believe that they are twin sisters separated at birth.Songs of Love from Hawaii
IMDB 5 | Oct , 2024
Told in three unique stories, Songs of Love from Hawaii is a hybrid historical drama that uncovers the journeys of Hawaii's first Korean immigrants. From picture bride Lim Ok Soon to those isolated in Kalaupapa, their tales of love, sacrifice, and resilience come alive through stunning performances by world-class musicians and rare archival images against Hawaii's breathtaking landscapes.