child abandonment
27 movies and shows

There Will Be Blood
Wed, 26 Dec 2007
Ruthless silver miner, turned oil prospector, Daniel Plainview, moves to oil-rich California. Using his son to project a trustworthy, family-man image, Plainview cons local landowners into selling him their valuable properties for a pittance. However, local preacher Eli Sunday suspects Plainview's motives and intentions, starting a slow-burning feud that threatens both their lives.

Joe Dirt
Tue, 10 Apr 2001
Joe Dirt is a janitor with a mullet hairdo, acid-washed jeans and a dream to find the parents that he lost at the Grand Canyon when he was a belligerent, trailer park-raised eight-year-old. Now, blasting Van Halen in his jacked-up economy car, the irrepressibly optimistic Joe hits the road alone in search of his folks.

Coin Locker Girl
Wed, 29 Apr 2015
A child abandoned in a subway coin locker is sold to a ruthless and calculating loan shark and gangster boss dubbed Mother, who runs an organ-harvesting ring in Incheon’s Chinatown. Named Il-Young, the baby girl grows into Mother’s loyal right-hand enforcer and is groomed to be her eventual successor. But when Il-Young’s loyalty to Mother wavers, the clash between the two unleashes a merciless tidal wave of blood-soaked retribution and strife.

Antwone Fisher
Thu, 19 Dec 2002
A sailor prone to violent outbursts is sent to a naval psychiatrist for help. Refusing at first to open up, the young man eventually breaks down and reveals a horrific childhood. Through the guidance of his doctor, he confronts his painful past and begins a quest to find the family he never knew.

Pieta
Thu, 06 Sep 2012
A loan shark is forced to reconsider his violent lifestyle after the arrival of a mysterious woman claiming to be his long-lost mother.

Hick
Fri, 11 May 2012
A pistol-packing teen meets an unstable rebel and a cocaine-snorting drifter as she hitchhikes her way out West.

Bunny Drop
Sat, 20 Aug 2011
Daikichi learns that his recently deceased grandfather has an illegitimate daughter with an unknown mother. The girl's name is Rin and she is just 6 years old. Everybody in Daikichi's family looks at the girl as an embarrassment and wants no part of her. Daikichi, annoyed by his family's attitude, decides to raise Rin by himself. Even though Daikichi himself has no experience raising a child and is still single.

Misha and the Wolves
Fri, 03 Sep 2021
A woman’s Holocaust memoir takes the world by storm, but a fallout with her publisher-turned-detective reveals her story as an audacious deception created to hide a darker truth.

Midnight Swan
Fri, 25 Sep 2020
Nagisa is transgender. She grew up in Hiroshima as a man, but now lives in Shinjuku, Tokyo as a woman. Due to an incident, she begins to live with middle school student Ichika, who is a distant relative. Ichika has been neglected by her mother Saori. From living in solitude by herself, to now living with Ichika, Nagisa develops maternal instincts for the first time.

The Surface
Sat, 27 Jun 2015
Evan, an orphaned 22-year-old who grew up in the foster care system, buys a vintage 8mm camera in a yard sale from an elderly man, ends up with reels of the man's old home movies, and begins to live vicariously through these home movies.

Mrs. Soffel
Wed, 26 Dec 1984
Kate Soffel is married to a prison warden in Pittsburgh, and is the mother of their four children. Ed Biddle is a convicted murderer awaiting execution on death row with his brother Jack. When Kate meets Eddie through her Bible readings to the prisoners, she is drawn to him, and they pursue a clandestine relationship. She agrees to help the brothers escape, and begins a treacherous journey with them to freedom in Canada.

He Who Is Without Sin...
Thu, 18 Dec 1952
Stefano and Maria have a marriage by proxy while he is working abroad in Canada. When she is mistakenly accused of abandoning her own child and sent to jail, Stefano finds out and decides to annul their marriage.

Homecoming
Sun, 14 Apr 1996
When their mother disappears, a group of siblings are forced to fend for themselves, and make their way on their own. They eventually meet their grandmother, a loner who is reluctant to take them in.

Bear Cub
Fri, 27 Feb 2004
Pedro, a gay man with an active social life and big circle of friends, takes in his nephew Bernardo for a couple weeks. When it appears as though it might become a permanent arrangement, however, Pedro turns to his friends for guidance as he and 9-year-old Bernardo begin to forge a household together.

One Night
Fri, 08 Nov 2019
A family reunites after 15 years. They each have a story to tell as they have not forgotten what happened years ago.

Naval Port Child: Yokosuka Cleaning 1946
Thu, 10 Aug 2023
Post-war Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture. Adults who are swayed by the US military stationed in the country and swayed by US intentions cannot afford to care about children who should be protected. The war orphans, who had no choice but to survive on their own, were used to shining shoes for American soldiers, picking up cigarettes, and sometimes committing crimes. However, at some point, they came across a "cleaning" job. They work hard instead of committing crimes and earn money by being appreciated by people. The orphans begin to regain their smiles through experiences that make them feel like they should be alive. The children started to have a modest dream of "renting a house and living" with their own earnings, but they were attacked by an even harsher reality...

A Place for Annie
Sun, 01 May 1994
Baby Annie is HIV positive and has been left in the clinic by her drug addicted mother. To prevent that she's deported to a home where they'd just wait for her to die, nurse Susan takes charge of Annie at her home. Two years later she plans too adopt her -- but suddenly Annie's mother reappears and demands her back. And under the law, Susan, as foster-mother, has no claim to the child.

Every Child
Sat, 01 Sep 1979
This animated short follows an unwanted baby who is passed from house to house. The film is the Canadian contribution to an hour-long feature film celebrating UNESCO's Year of the Child (1979). It illustrates one of the ten principles of the Declaration of Children's Rights: every child is entitled to a name and a nationality. The film took home an Oscar® for Best Animated Short Film.

Gold
Mon, 23 Mar 1953
Anwar Wagdi plays vagabond musician Alfredo, who comes across an abandoned baby in the night. He tries his best to get our heroes someone to take it and raise it. When that fails, he has no choice but to raise it on his own. He names the child, Dabab, after the beautiful woman he's encountered on the street. Years pass and Dahab grows up to be the Faryuz, who is actually cute, talented and far less grating than our Ms. Temple. Many Chaplinesque hijinks ensue as Alfredo and Dahab play music on the streets, try to scam free food wherever they can and convince the owner of a successful nightclub to let Dahab perform.

Knitting
Fri, 13 Aug 2021
Five brothers end up being raised by their older brother after their mother's death. One day, as adults, they receive the news that a comatose man in an ICU could be their father. In the hospital's waiting room, the brothers immerse themselves in their conflicts and memories, and through the knitting learned in childhood.