Family Portrait in Black and White (2012)

Family Portrait in Black and White poster
Theatrical Performance
Domestic Box Office n/a
Further financial details...

Synopsis

Olga Nenya has 27 children. Four of them, now adults, are her biological children; the other 23 are adopted or foster children. Of those 23, 16 are biracial. She calls them "my chocolates," and is raising them to be patriotic Ukrainians. Some residents of Sumy, Ukraine, consider Olga a saint, but many believe she is simply crazy. An inheritance from the Soviet era, a stigma persists here against interracial relationships, and against children born as the result of romantic encounters between Ukrainian girls and exchange students from Africa. For more than a decade, Olga has been picking up the black babies left in Ukrainian orphanages and raising them together so that they may support and protect one another. The filmmakers interview Neo-Nazis in Ukraine reveals the real dangers for a dark-skinned individual in the street. These white supremacist youth joke about their evening raids and how police seem to let them do it. Prosecutors are not particularly determined to give strict sentences to racially motivated crimes, and young thugs can get away with probation for beating someone nearly to death. Olga sends her foster children to stay with host families in France and Italy in the summers and over Christmas, where they are cared for by charitable families who have committed to helping disadvantaged Ukrainian youth since the Chernobyl disaster. Olga's kids now speak different languages, and the older girls chat in fluent Italian with each other even while cooking a vat of borscht. But Olga doesn't believe in international adoption and has refused to sign adoption papers from host families that wanted to adopt her kids. "At least when the kids grow up, they'll have a mother to blame for all the failures that will happen in their lives," she says.

Metrics

Movie Details

Domestic Releases: July 13th, 2012 (Limited) by First Pond Entertainment
Running Time: 85 minutes
Comparisons: Create your own comparison chart…
Keywords: Bigotry, Adopted Family, Foster Family
Source:Based on Real Life Events
Genre:Documentary
Production Method:Live Action
Creative Type:Factual
Production/Financing Companies: Interfilm Productions, Knowledge, EQHD
Production Countries: Russian Federation
Languages: Italian, Russian

Weekend Box Office Performance

Daily Box Office Performance

Weekly Box Office Performance

Full financial estimates for this film, including domestic and international box office, video sales, video rentals, TV and ancillary revenue are available through our research services. For more information, please contact us at research@the-numbers.com.

Documentary Subject(s)

Olga Nenya Herself

For a description of the different acting role types we use to categorize acting perfomances, see our Glossary.

Production and Technical Credits

Julia Ivanova Director
Julia Ivanova Screenwriter
Julia Ivanova Cinematographer
Julia Ivanova Editor
Boris Ivanov Producer
Mike Jackson Associate Producer
Stanislav Shakhov Cinematographer
Boris Sichon Composer

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Synopsis

Olga Nenya has 27 children. Four of them, now adults, are her biological children; the other 23 are adopted or foster children. Of those 23, 16 are biracial. She calls them "my chocolates," and is raising them to be patriotic Ukrainians. Some residents of Sumy, Ukraine, consider Olga a saint, but many believe she is simply crazy. An inheritance from the Soviet era, a stigma persists here against interracial relationships, and against children born as the result of romantic encounters between Ukrainian girls and exchange students from Africa. For more than a decade, Olga has been picking up the black babies left in Ukrainian orphanages and raising them together so that they may support and protect one another. The filmmakers interview Neo-Nazis in Ukraine reveals the real dangers for a dark-skinned individual in the street. These white supremacist youth joke about their evening raids and how police seem to let them do it. Prosecutors are not particularly determined to give strict sentences to racially motivated crimes, and young thugs can get away with probation for beating someone nearly to death. Olga sends her foster children to stay with host families in France and Italy in the summers and over Christmas, where they are cared for by charitable families who have committed to helping disadvantaged Ukrainian youth since the Chernobyl disaster. Olga's kids now speak different languages, and the older girls chat in fluent Italian with each other even while cooking a vat of borscht. But Olga doesn't believe in international adoption and has refused to sign adoption papers from host families that wanted to adopt her kids. "At least when the kids grow up, they'll have a mother to blame for all the failures that will happen in their lives," she says.

Metrics

Movie Details

Domestic Releases: July 13th, 2012 (Limited) by First Pond Entertainment
Running Time: 85 minutes
Comparisons: Create your own comparison chart…
Keywords: Bigotry, Adopted Family, Foster Family
Source:Based on Real Life Events
Genre:Documentary
Production Method:Live Action
Creative Type:Factual
Production/Financing Companies: Interfilm Productions, Knowledge, EQHD
Production Countries: Russian Federation
Languages: Italian, Russian

Documentary Subject(s)

Olga Nenya Herself

For a description of the different acting role types we use to categorize acting perfomances, see our Glossary.

Production and Technical Credits

Julia Ivanova Director
Julia Ivanova Screenwriter
Julia Ivanova Cinematographer
Julia Ivanova Editor
Boris Ivanov Producer
Mike Jackson Associate Producer
Stanislav Shakhov Cinematographer
Boris Sichon Composer

Weekend Box Office Performance

Daily Box Office Performance

Weekly Box Office Performance

Full financial estimates for this film, including domestic and international box office, video sales, video rentals, TV and ancillary revenue are available through our research services. For more information, please contact us at research@the-numbers.com.