By Christina Kiely
Found is the story of Chloe, Lilly and Sadie, who were all born in China and adopted by white American families. At the age of 16, through the DNA service 23andMe, the girls learn that they are cousins. The documentary beautifully explores the complex emotions of every person involved in each of the adoptions. Found is a compassionately told story of the girls finding one another, finding their homeland, and finding themselves.
Director Amanda Lipitz and Producer Anita Gou spoke with me about the experience of making the film and the powerful and often unexpected stories that emerged in the process.
Christina Kiely: Tell me how the film came about, and about the moment you knew you had a documentary.
Amanda Lipitz: So with all of my films I start with one image that really inspires me – Chloe is my niece and my brother told me that she was having her Bat Mitzvah at The Wall in Jerusalem. And the image of my niece, surrounded by our big Jewish family… I knew I wanted to film that. Around the same time they’d discovered Chloe had a cousin. So I started to capture their stories.
The fact that you had one girl raised Jewish, one raised Catholic, and one raised Baptist… it seemed meant to be.
Amanda Lipitz: So many things about the film were meant to be. Even in the discovery of Liu Hao the genealogist, for example, she is such an amazing woman and she became our fourth girl, in such an amazing moment for the film.
At what point did she become that for you? Was it a surprise or were you looking for someone to fill that role?
Amanda Lipitz: Anita and I would talk about – that it would be amazing if the girls could talk to someone in China, that was a young woman who grew up during the one child policy in China and give us that perspective. It would be so great if that could happen organically. So when Liu Hao was introduced to us, all we knew was that she was from the same hometown as the girls. We did not know her story. That moment on the bridge was the first time we heard her whole story.
You did an incredibly sensitive job at looking at this story from all these different points of view. Being so understanding of everybody – from the people who gave up their children, the girls, to the adoptive parents – is that just who you are or did you have to think that through?
Amanda Lipitz: I would say that’s the type of storyteller I am, it wasn’t something I had to think through. I just wanted to tell the story of these girls. And see them come of age and see those dormant questions grow louder. As long as I stayed true to that everything else fell into place.
Anita Gou (Producer): When I first met Amanda she’d been following Chloe, Lily, and Sadie for a couple of years. I start talking to her about the story she was trying to tell through these girls, I felt this drive to explore – no matter statistics or the history, she goes for what is the human experience behind all of that. In this case, I was drawn to her desire to unpack a lot these inherent stereotypes that we’re attached to: Asian Women’s experiences, Asian American experiences or being a teenager. And there’s much more to these identities and the back-stories that we often don’t get to see. I think the girls in their journeys organically lead us to these places in the same way, with Liu Hao and the families in China did as well.
The other people I found so moving where the nannies. Can you tell me about how you included them and what you were expecting?
Amanda Lipitz: I’ve always been interested in the nannies. You see in that video, when Li Lan hands Chloe to my sister in-law for the first time. I looked at this woman and she had this smile on her face but there was sadness in her eyes. There were tears there. Chloe was 15 months old. She had cared for this child for 15 months. I wondered who that woman was. In the film she says, “You know we nannies are not coldhearted.” It’s just a beautiful moment. We found the most incredible group of nannies and women and they really are, as Liu Hao says, the frontline workers.
They were incredible and NOT coldhearted – such as the one who went to medical school to make sure the children had proper medical care and the other one who took the children home because there wasn’t enough space at the orphanage – it was incredible. And you felt that they genuinely remembered the girls?
Amanda Lipitz: You know some people feel like, how could they remember? We didn’t really think about that because the nannies wanted to remember and the girls needed to be remembered. They had all had the silent trauma and we as outsiders needed to bear witness to it – the silent trauma that they can’t always verbalize.
Read Part 2 of Christina’s conversation with the Found team here.
NYWIFT presented and Industry Screening of Found, followed by a Q& with Anita Gou and Amanda Lipitz on November 9, 2021. Watch the full recording of the conversation below:
Related Posts
How to Decide Which Screenwriting Contests to Submit To
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of screenwriting competitions out there — so how do you decide which ones are worth your time and money? As the co-founder of Moonshot Initiative, a nonprofit that works toward gender equity in film and television, NYWIFT Member Katrina Medoff has been on the other side of the application process. Her team reads hundreds of submissions a year for the Moonshot Pilot Accelerator and their newest program, the Moonshot Feature Accelerator. They know that their applicants poured their time, talents, and energy into their scripts, and that every fellowship submission means putting more time and money into your career. So it’s important to carefully consider which labs and contests to prioritize. If you’re ready to submit your feature film screenplay or TV pilot script to screenwriting competitions, here’s how to determine which labs, fellowships, and contests would be a good fit.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Michelle de la Rosa
Let's all give a warm welcome to Michelle de la Rosa! Michelle is a freelance theatre and film director based in New York City. She is a native New Yorker with Puerto Rican and Jewish heritage. As a director, she has participated in several NYC theatre festivals. She studied directing under the mentorship of John Grabowski at the Acting Studio in New York. She is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and now NYWIFT! As a playwright, her short play Spell It (2021) was produced by the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. Continue reading to learn more about Michelle and how she got to where she is today as an artist.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Val Dowd
We’re thrilled to welcome our new NYWIFT member, Val Dowd! Val is a film sales manager with a passion for highlighting underrepresented voices. Some of her career highlights thus far include doing outreach for Matthew Heineman’s documentary The First Wave and working with her team on Hulu’s The Jewel Thief. She’s very motivated by community and finding films that can open doors for people and offer fresh perspectives. Read our interview with Val to learn more about the role of a film sales manager, how she approaches selling and distributing projects, and her love for film.
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Bella Pechaty
We are pleased to welcome new NYWIFT member, Isabella (Bella) Pechaty! Bella Pechaty is a young professional working in freelance film journalism programming. She has worked at a number of arts nonprofits, independent publications, and in film publicity. She is interested in pursuing a career in film PR, creative development, and film criticism. She holds a BA in Film Studies from Barnard College of Columbia University, and is currently based in New York City.
READ MORE
1 Comment