Alicia

APPROPIATE

2017 / 90min.

Rating8

Genres

Documentary

Synopsis

"It’s not easy to find a foster family for you," an orphanage supervisor explains to nine-year-old Alicia. "After all, you are a very special girl." Alicia is crying. "I’m not special. I’m just a girl." This disturbing scene sets the tone for this film about Alicia, who was taken away from her teenage mother by the Child Welfare Bureau when she was 12 months old. She’s been living in an orphanage since the age of five, and they have never managed to find a foster family for her. In Alicia, we watch as she becomes a teenager, still craving safety and love. Over the course of three years, filmmaker Maasja Ooms follows her daily life up close. Alicia's yearning and powerlessness are palpable in these observations, which painfully reveal the effects of having no prospects.

Directors

Actors

Similar

HyperNormalisation

We live in a world where the powerful deceive us. We know they lie. They know we know they lie. They do not care. We say we care, but we do nothing, a

2016

7.4

ASH World Wide Suicide

A boy posts a message on the Internet seeking a suicide partner. A girl reads it and flies to meet him one week later. Together they jump off a 600-me

2002

0.0

One Ticket Please

A documentary about a 78-year-old Indian woman in New York who is the world's most passionate theatergoer. Nicki Cochrane has been seeing a play every

2017

7.3

It's All Good

As the healthcare system in Venezuela comes crashing down and millions of people flee the country, a doctor, a pharmacist, an activist and two cancer

2018

6.5

Scouts Honor: Inside a Marching Brotherhood

Three young men commit themselves to one of the best summers of their lives...marching in a World Class drum and bugle corps. The bond of brotherhood

2014

0.0

Resurrecting Hassan

Traces the lives of the Hartings, a blind Montreal family of three who make their living singing in the city's subway stations. The Hartings lost thei

2017

6.0

The Department

THE DEPARTMENT is a feature documentary which takes us inside the never-before-seen child protection system at work in NSW. Filmed in an observational

2021

0.0

On Call

At the consulting service for immigrants at the Avicenne Hospital in suburban Paris, we observe the sorrow and powerlessness of the immigrants who com

2016

7.4

Running Wild: The Cats of Cornwall

Cats might be cute but they are decimating the environment just like other invasive species. As ecologists and activists try to control outdoor cat po

2020

0.0

Waiting for the Sun

In China more people are on death row than the rest of the world combined. The children of the convicts are often left alone, stigmatized and living i

2017

6.2

Every Good Marriage Begins with Tears

Two Bangladeshi girls born and raised in London have weddings arranged for them against their will by their family. Shahanara, the rebel of the family

2006

6.0

Hopalong Animal Rescue: The Power of Fostering

The power of fostering animals in need is undeniable. Hopalong Animal Rescue, based in Oakland, CA, demonstrates this every day. This short film chro

2019

0.0

Spotlight on Merna

Taking part in The Voice Kids is already quite something, but for 11-year-old Merna it’s really something special. Her parents had to flee Iraq becaus

2016

10.0

Barbie: The Perfect Woman?

More than sixty years after her birth, the Barbie doll is still as seductive as ever. Between stereotypes and emancipatory discourse, we explore an ic

2023

8.5

DPJ

A direct, uncompromising look into the complex machinery of Quebec’s youth protection services (known as the DPJ). https://lustitia.com/en/productions

2017

0.0

The Earth Is Blue as an Orange

Single mother Anna and her four children live in the front-line war zone of Donbas, Ukraine. While the outside world is made up of bombings and chaos,

2020

7.3

Before Father Gets Back

In a darkened classroom, the white cracked walls serve as a movie screen. We are in a remote mountain village in Georgia. The light from the projector

2018

0.0

Blood Amber

Somewhere in Myanmar is a forest rich in amber and controlled by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). Most of its inhabitants work in a mine, digging t

2017

6.0