Canada,
2004, 57 min
Shown in 2005
CREDITS
- dir
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Brenda Kovrig
- prod
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Andrea Nemtin, Brenda Kovrig
- scr
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Brenda Kovrig
- cam
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Robin Lupita Bain
- editor
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Vanda Schmöckel
- mus
-
Rohan Staton
- source
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PTV Releasing Inc, 585 Markham St, 2nd Floor, Toronto MGG 2L7, Ontario, Canada. FAX: 416-537-2145. EMAIL: anemtin@ptvproductions.ca.
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COMMENTS
Brenda Kovrig in person.
OTHER
Six years after beginning her search, Brenda Kovrig receives a letter that her birth mother has been located. After their reunion, Kovrig learns of a father who refuses to meet her and a sister who still doesn’t know she exists, forcing Kovrig to totally redefine her identity and place in the world. Her near obsession to fuse her genetic history with her adopted present sends Kovrig on a captivating scientific and psychological quest, encountering a myriad of characters, from a famous geneticist in London to an adoption psychotherapist in San Francisco—like clues a detective tracks down, the people Kovrig meets all guide her to the climax of her adventure. In this evocative documentary, Kovrig leads us gently through her brave, poignant and refreshingly unexpected story of what happens after the “happily ever after” of finding her genetic parents. Employing innovative filmmaking techniques and unconventional storytelling, Kovrig’s film becomes less an adoption reunion story and more an introspective investigation into questions that plague us all: the search for where we belong, fate versus accident and the true meaning of relativity.
—Tessa Swigart
FACTOID #125
According to the November 29, 1959 San Diego Union, The Village on the River was the first Dutch feature ever shown in the U.S. (at the Third San Francisco International Film Festival).
