Watch: ReMoved: A powerful movie short on foster care

From the YouTube page for the movie:

Published on Mar 11, 2014

We made ReMoved with the desire that it would be used to serve in bringing awareness, encourage, and be useful in foster parent training, and raising up foster parents. .
If you would like to use the film for any of these reasons, the answer is yes.
If you need a downloadable version, you can download it here:
vimeo.com/ondemand/removed

Originally created for the 168 Film Festival, ReMoved follows the emotional story through the eyes of a young girl taken from her home and placed into foster care.

After winning Best Film and Audience Choice at the 168 Film Festival, as well as winning Best Film at the Enfoque Film Festival and being an official selection at the Santa Barbara Independent Film Festival, we’re extremely excited to share ReMoved online.

“It would be impossible to fully understand the life and emotions of a child going through the foster care system, but this short narrative film portrays that saga in a poetic light, with brushes of fear, anger, sadness, and a tiny bit of hope.” -Santa Barbara Independent

This short film wouldn’t be possible without the help of some of my incredible friends.
First, my wife, who schemed this project up with me, and was willing to do me the huge favor of writing and producing it. Without her partnership, this would not have happened, and definitely would not have been such a fun process. We were inspired to create this film while in foster parent training.

And then of course Tony Cruz. I asked him early on if he’d be willing to tackle this with me. I wasn’t sure if I was really going to pursue it unless he said yes. He graciously agreed and was, to me, a huge source of confidence in knowing this project would turn out well. He and i discussed everything during the pre-production, and i counted on his creative mind to keep me on the right path. He even persuaded another key creative on the project, Greg Pickard, to join us. On Set Tony was my right hand man. On set, if I just wasn’t feeling it, I had the trust in him to be able to just hand the scene off to him and know he would make it work. And he stepped in plenty of times when i just needed a break, or a separate perspective. Some of the best moments in the film are of his doing. Go check him out at tonycruz.co

We were very fortunate with Abby White, the young actress. Without her we wouldn’t have a film.

Her parents were so amazing as well. I don’t think they anticipated how much involvement it would take on their end, but they stuck with it the whole way. Abby’s dad, Andy White from Good Times Guitar, even recorded Abby’s Voice Over for us in his studio.

Curated from YouTube

3 thoughts on “Watch: ReMoved: A powerful movie short on foster care”

  1. I wish it showed more of the truth in foster care. I understand wanting to protect innocent foster parents but I think you miss the point that the children being drugged, beaten, starved, raped, molested, etc. In foster care deserve the real truth to be told.

    I’m a former foster child. I’ve connected with thousands of former and current foster children and we’d wish that someone would tell the full truth. The only way to create change is to accept the truth.

    1. While I have no personal experience as a foster child or at all with the foster system, I do appreciate your wish for more truth to be revealed about the deep issues with the foster system. That said, ReMoved is a short film and not an expose or documentary. While it doesn’t reveal the whole truth about these hidden, secret crimes against children, I believe the film quite effectively conveys the emotional pain. In a mere 12 minutes, we feel the pain of an abusive family setting, the frustration of a foster mother unfairly venting on a child ripped from her parents and brother, and the potential that there is good in some people. Yes, we do need more exposure for the bad, but I feel this short film delivered a great deal in a short space. There’s nothing wrong with that and it left me wanting to find out more.

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