Piece of My Heart - NZ Film

"Piece of my Heart" is a New Zealand film based on the true stories of women who experienced forced adoption in the late 1960's. Available to purchase by ordering at leading DVD stores.  Visit the website for more information on the movie.

Synopsis

Flora Thornley has been in hiding for most of her life. In 1968 when she was seventeen, Flora had a daughter and gave her up for adoption. She has never told anyone, including her husband and two grown sons. But now, she has contacted her daughter for the first time and gets a brutal rejection letter in reply.

Devastated, Flora runs away from home to the only person she thinks will understand. Kat was her closest friend in the home for unmarried mothers where they both gave birth in 1968, but they haven’t seen each other since. Meanwhile, their lives have been very different, and Kat’s place isn’t the safe haven Flora hopes it will be. Also living there is Ani, a stroppy teenager two weeks away from giving birth and in complete denial about the reality of life with a baby.
As Flora writes to her daughter, explaining how and why a woman could give away her baby, we go back to 1968 and learn what really happened. In the present, Flora has to face up to what a life of deception has done to her as she tries to reconnect with Kat, deal with Ani and tell her husband Mike the truth after thirty years of lying.

PIECE OF MY HEART is a drama about reconciliation – between the present and the past, between a mother and her child, between a husband and a wife. Adoption is a part of so many New Zealand families and their stories – this is the story of one particular woman as she finally acknowledges the past in order to change the future.

PIECE OF MY HEART is written and directed by Fiona Samuel adapted from the novel 'Does This Make Sense To You?' by Renee. The four leading roles are played by Annie Whittle (THE WORLD’S FASTEST INDIAN), Rena Owen (ONCE WERE WARRIORS), Emily Barclay (IN MY FATHER’S DEN) and Keisha Castle Hughes (WHALE RIDER).