Recently, I had the pleasure of seeing three tender and well-made adoption films by Jean Strauss. Honestly though, no popcorn was served. These films were screened at a local college where a friend of mine teaches.
For those of you unfamiliar with Jean, she is an adoptee and a talented writer. Two of her books are about adoption and I have mentioned them previously when I listed some favorite adoption books.
The first film screened was the “Triumvirate” which details Jean’s search and reunion with her birth mother and her birth grandmother as well. Not only was Jean adopted, but, her birth mother was too. Jean found two generations of birth mothers, both her own birth mother and also her birth mother’s as well.
The three women dubbed themselves the “triumvirate” and they were able to spend several years together in which a great deal of joy and healing took place amongst them.
Jean spoke about the films after the screening and told us that this film did not begin as a movie, but, was her attempt to record the wonderful times that the three women were able to spend together. The “triumvirate” as they called themselves took several fun vacations together and Jean recorded some of the events during that time.
One of the most poignant and touching scenes shows Jean and her birth mother and her birth grandmother in their hotel room. Three generations of women are sitting together on a bed in their pajamas chatting, giggling and hamming it up for the video recorder. Their delight at being together is obvious and is a testament to the strength of family bonds, even after long separations.
Last year, Jean Strauss was invited to screen her film at the Rocky Mountain Womens’ Film Festival.See here. Their description of the film is at the very bottom of the page.
This film was also given the runner-up Audience Award and named Best of Fest (top 20 of 2,288 entries) at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in 2004 year. In researching this film, I came across a post regarding this wonderful film by Adoption.com Editor, Nancy Ashe. Nancy’s post.
All the accolades this film has received are well-deserved. If you get a chance to see any of Jean’s films, I highly recommend them all. She has a unique ability to touch the heart and present important issues in a sensitive, gentle manner.
To Be Continued…………………………………
