I can’t even remember the first time I heard about the documentary film, Stuck. I knew it focused on international adoption and the problems with the process. I knew it followed the stories of three families, one of which was adopting from Haiti. That was enough for me and I signed up as a volunteer audience recruiter.
Then I saw the trailer. I cried the first time I saw it. I shared it with everyone I knew. It looked like it could be a powerful tool to enlighten people on the intense struggles of international adoption that we were going through.
Then our adoption agency sent me an email that the Stuck film city tour really needed a city manager for their Houston premiere. I hesitated to take on what seemed like a huge job, but I was committed to the cause and I figured it was only three weeks till the showing so my work would be limited. So I jumped in.
The campaign staff helped some with reaching out to local media, but got nowhere. I grabbed ahold of that need a bit too late to be effective, but I tried like crazy. We showed the trailer at our local adoption conference and I sent materials and information out to our city alliance of adoption ministries. Plus I plugged the event over and over in social media.
I also asked my friends from the band Forlorn Hope if they would play at the premiere. They did and it was perfect. The day before the film showing I had lunch with Craig Juntunen, executive producer and founder of the Both Ends Burning campaign. He’s an engaging, passionate guy with an amazing personal story.
I was pretty nervous that no one but a handful of my friends would show up. Last I checked we had only sold eight tickets. I was totally wrong. Almost two hundred people came! Craig said it was one of their biggest premieres yet. (It should be, in the fourth largest city in the country!) Everything is bigger in Texas, you know.
Craig’s kids are adorable. Beautiful, even. I didn’t hear a trace of a Haitian accent anymore.
 |
| Seven year old Quinn delights my friend Laura with stories. |
 |
| The Juntunen kids have been living on a tour bus almost two weeks. |
 |
| Craig, his kids, and my friend Vanessa. (Forgive the lighting, I had camera issues.) |
 |
| Adam and John from Forlorn Hope sang their songs about hope for the oppressed. |
The film, of course, was tremendous. I would love it to be nominated for an Oscar, which is has already qualified for. They are on a sixty city tour to show the movie and gather signatures for a petition to make change in the difficult process of intercountry adoption. At the end of the tour they will march in Washington.
My parents were in town for spring break and they saw the film with us too. I think it helped educate them at least a little about the process we are going through, but also about the community of support we have in Houston.
Meanwhile we wait, as the Senate in Haiti is scheduled to vote on a new adoption law today that would improve a lot of issues and potentially speed our process…a bit.
You can purchase a copy of Stuck on DVD or download and I do ask that you sign the petition as well!
