THE LONG WAY HOME

Bulgaria, 2014, 70 min.

20 years ago our film crew, while shooting in an orphanage witnessed a roma mother called Svetla leaving her newly born son Ilya for adoption.
Four years later Ilya was adopted in France.
The abandoned roma baby has turned to a handsome, educated, well mannered Frenchman who comments confidently his own adoption. Ilya’s adoptive mother was asking for years on end if there was a way to find his biologic mother and to visit his seven brothers and sisters in Bulgaria.
Our film reveals these emotional meetings: amazing, with suspicion and surprise from the collision of cultures… The film also rises questions on the fate of the other children: Brany- Branimira, Maria, John –Petko, Nathalie-Donka and Joseph-Boyan; who were adopted in front of our cameras while shooting “The Long Way Home”.Bulgarian roma children who found their parents in Italy, Austria, France, USA…
From the member countries the European Union - Bulgaria is the only donor of children for international adoption.