CineLink Docu Rough Cut: Lost and Found: Romania’s Hidden Adoption Market
“The hidden history of Romania’s international adoptions is a wound that never healed, for the children sent abroad, the families left behind, and the country that let it happen,” Romanian feature debutant Laurentiu Garofeanu explains to BDE the necessity of his Lost and Found: Romania’s Hidden Adoption Market. “[It] is a personal investigation, a human story unfolding in real time, with emotional stakes that cross borders.”
For Jessi, who was adopted almost 30 years ago, what starts as a search for identity becomes “a confrontation with the post-revolution marketplace, a post-communist system that sold thousands of children for international adoption,” the notes for the film project underline. Back in Romania and filmed over seven years, she uncovers “unbelievable truths, contradictory records, meets evasive officials, and finds the sister she never knew existed.” All the while, Garofeanu accompanies her on “a vérité journey into memory, loss, and resilience.”
“I’ve spent two decades telling stories people thought would never be told, from London and New York to the Black Sea and entire Balkan region,” director/producer Garofeanu further underlines his credentials in telling this vital story. “I know how to win trust in places where trust is rare. In Lost and Found, that means sitting with birth mothers in their living rooms and across from people who swore they’d never speak on camera.”
“The production is small but relentless: experienced researchers, filming across two continents, multiple countries, and a network of trusted collaborators in Romania, Canada, Belgium and Spain. Our editor turns chaos into clarity. Our cinematographers capture intimacy without intrusion,” he adds.
Garofeanu promises to deliver a visceral cinematic experience to reflect the urgency of the subject he depicts. “Imagine the intimacy of a home movie colliding with the raw momentum of a personal investigation,” he says. “The film moves between two visual worlds: the grainy, discreet footage from small cameras that lets us disappear into the moment, and the composed, high-quality images that give the search for truth its cinematic value.”
“It’s handheld when we need to feel breath on the lens, locked-off when silence says more than words, and wide when the landscape itself becomes part of the story. The color palette shifts from muted, weathered tones to rich, textured hues, so when past and present meet, you feel the impact,” he adds.
The film will have strong resonance in Romania, but also internationally, Garofeanu maintains. “For local audiences, it’s about reclaiming a truth buried under decades of politics and silence. For international audiences, it’s a mirror, because the machinery that turned children into commodities didn’t stop in Romania.”
The director/producer also underlines its appeal to industry. “We’ve brought partners on board by showing them it’s not just a film, it’s an event. Years of research. Relentless commitment to following the story wherever it leads. Access no one else has. An urgency that makes it impossible to look away. HBO Europe, Saxonia Entertainment, MDM Germany and Balkan Watchers didn’t just back a project, they backed the opening of a long-avoided conversation about a chapter in European history that’s been swept under the rug for too long.”
Garofeanu is looking to close the budget in Sarajevo, as well as attract sales, distributor, broadcast and festival interest, ahead of a Summer 2026 completion. “We’re aiming for a world premiere at a top-tier festival where personal, vérité-driven human rights documentaries thrive – [such as] Hot Docs, IDFA, Sundance, Sarajevo,” he confirms. “The festival run will lead into a targeted European and North American release, paired with an impact campaign in partnership with NGOs and adoption reform advocates. We’re running a two-track strategy: one for the art-house and festival circuit, the other for broadcasters and streamers seeking stories with emotional depth and global resonance. The aim is simple, to make Lost and Found impossible to ignore from its first public screening.”
Meanwhile, the director articulates his satisfaction at being in the Bosnian capital to find the remaining pieces of his production jigsaw puzzle. “Sarajevo is where war stories, exile stories, and survival stories find their champions,” he says. “If I leave with one thing, it will be knowing Lost and Found has connected with partners who see its urgency and are ready to help carry it across borders. For me, success is walking out of a meeting and realising the person I just spoke to is still turning the story over in their mind hours later. That’s when I know the film has already begun to do its work, before it’s even finished.”