2003 News & Press Releases > CASA de los BABYS

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JustForMom supports- CASA de los BABYS

John Sayles is considered by many one of the greatest American independent directors of our time. His new film, in theaters this fall, CASA de los BABYS, starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, Daryl Hannah, Marcia Gay Harden, Susan Lynch, Rita Moreno, Mary Steenburgen, and Lili Taylor, like so many of John Sayles' best films, (LONE STAR, SUNSHINE STATE, PASSION FISH, EIGHT MEN OUT) explores a topic with complex personal, emotional and political ramifications - adoption. The issue was one that was being wrestled with more and more by people the writer/director knew personally. "I have several friends who are adopted or who have adopted children (or both), all with very strong emotional and intellectual reactions to this story. I've seen success stories, absolute disasters, and everything in between - just as I have with my friends who've had birth children."

As CASA de los BABYS unfolds, the six American women reveal themselves - what brought them to this point, their past, their present, their fears and their dreams of motherhood. Says Sayles, "The six characters represent many of the different pathways that can lead to foreign adoption. One is a single mother, another has financial worries, another has plenty of money but a shaky marriage, and yet another has given birth but had her infant children die. They have various opinions, prejudices and insecurities, come from different parts of the country and have spent much more time together than would ever happen if they didn't have this one extraordinary thing in common."

An Academy Award-winner for her performance in POLLOCK, Marcia Gay Harden took on her role with a keen perspective. Says Harden, "What my character Nan has gone through, including fertility treatments, is extremely stressful. Many women in my age range have gone through similar things. The reality of women having careers and postponing childbirth is something we're facing in America."

Producer Lemore Syvan sees the film as a story about women's empowerment "The characters travel so far to set up residency in a foreign country they don't know or understand. They're very far from home and their husbands - - - all for something that is very important to them. To go that far emotionally and to eventually adopt a child which will change their life forever - - - is incredible. It's all about changing your life as you know it, starting on one end and finishing on the other."

CASA de los BABYS will be in theaters this fall, 2003. For more information, go to www.ifcfilms.com.