Adopted Girl

The Film

Adopted Girl is a contemporary coming-of-age story, which follows Weynshet, a 13-year-old Ethiopian girl, from an orphanage to an adoptive American family. The film documents her transformation from African to African-American, from one of the world’s poorest countries to one of the richest, and from a world where she looks like everyone around her to one where she becomes a minority of one. Weynshet’s story offers a rare, child’s-eye view of being adopted across race and culture. It doesn't take a pro- or anti-adoption stance, but acknowledges the complexity involved in the increasingly common practice, and gives voice to the experience of being adopted as it is happening. The story revolves around the central question: What is it like to get everything you need but to lose everything you know?