GIFFONI50PLUS - 21.31 JULY 2021

Films

I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU

Category: Edition 2021

They are couples like no others: couples who cannot bear children in a biological way and decide to go through adoption. From this decision and the actual meeting with the child, we’ll experience with them the sufferings, doubts, hopes and finally the joys of this life-changing journey. Throughout the film, this underlying question: what makes a family? How does this unfailing bond between a child and his/her parent form?

Original Title C’Est Toi Que J’Attendais
Category Official Competition
Section GEx Doc
Tipology Documentary, Feature Film
Duration 87'
Production Year 2020
Nationality France
Directed by Stéphanie Pillonca
Screenplay Stéphanie Pillonca, Astrid de Lauzanne
Director of photography Hugues Poulain
Editor Fabien Bouillaud
Sound Gautier Isern
Music Martin Balsan
Main cast Inès Kalfsbeek
Stéphane Munka
Fabrice Brault
Produced by Nathanael La Cimbe, Mathilde Petit
Production Wonder Filmsy (France)

StephaniePilloncaStéphanie Pillonca

After working as a journalist and television hostess, Stéphanie Pillonca devoted herself to writing and directing, particularly creative documentaries related to disability and difference for Arte. She also directed THE POISONING ANGEL with Déborah François and Benjamin Biolay. I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU is her second feature film.

director’s statement
“It all started when I met Astrid de Lauzanne, who told me about her adoption journey, and her will to make a film about it. I thought it was a great idea, and one that resonated with me, because adoption has long been an abiding theme in my life. When I became a mother, eighteen years ago, many friends around me, including a dear friend of mine, became mothers through adoption. So, it was a topic I was already familiar with. I was really touched when my friend told me about the visit a social worker had paid to her home; I heard many stories about the assessment process, adoption panels, etc. And I was there to see the adopted children grow up.[....]
A woman has the absolute right to give birth anonymously. I met about a hundred “secret mothers” to make the film, and none of them adamantly said that she will never want to know what happened to her child, that she will never want to be found, that the secret must be kept at all costs. Surely, some might think so, but I never met any. These women just felt the need to entrust their children to families that could take better care of them physically, psychologically and economically at the time. France is behind the times on the issue of the access to the origins of children born to anonymous mothers... DNA tests are not allowed; some people have even been given fake birthplaces. It is a shame to confuse and mislead people, as was the case for Sylvian. Fortunately, old laws are changing, many intellectuals or philosophers are now calling for the end of secrecy. The child or the adult who is searching for his or her biological mother is rarely aggressive or demanding. They just want to know. In every person born to an anonymous mother that I met beats the heart of a child who loves his or her parents, no matter what.”

Production
Wonder Filmsy (France)
www.wonderfilms.fr 

international distribution
festival contact
Pyramide International (France)
www.pyramidefilms.com