NFB Collection
Roots
200610 min 55 secFilm: Animation
Direction: Alison Reiko Loader
Production: David VerrallMichael Fukushima
Script: Alison Reiko LoaderPaul Bellini
"I just keep thinking, does my other mom love me? Does she think about me? What was it like for her to give me away. Why can't I find out? I need to know. It's my story too."
Roots is a one-of-a-kind produce-eye journey through a supermarket - and through the highly sensitive issue of adoption disclosure.
As a series of fruits and vegetables each drop into a shopping cart, they quickly get caught up in a conversation about origins. Together, they offer a diet of strongly held opinions: from a weepy apple who desperately seeks the truth about her natural mother, to a moralistic mushroom who thinks adoption information is best kept in the dark.
With its bright and a-peeling look, Roots is a brilliant film that will help seed discussion among older children and adults. While the film presents a medley of opinions, it clearly comes down on the side of greater openness. Or, as one outspoken orange puts it: "I tell you, this whole sealed records issue is pissing me off."
Directed by Alison Reiko Loader (herself an adoptee), Roots is written by Paul Bellini of the legendary comedy troupe Kids in the Hall, and voiced by an all-star comedic cast, including ex-Kids Scott Thompson and Mark McKinney.
Availability
Other versions
Subject categories
- Families > Adoption and Foster CareAnimation on the Family
Credits
- direction
- Alison Reiko Loader
- story
- Alison Reiko Loader
- animation
- Alison Reiko Loader
- writer
- Paul Bellini
- voice
- Maggie Cassella
- Mark McKinney
- Cara Pifko
- Fiona Reid
- Scott Thompson
- original music
- Luigi Allemano
- sound design
- Luigi Allemano
- musician
- Marie-Claire Cousineau
- Mariane Croteau
- Dave Gossage
- Sheila Hannigan
- Mathieu Harel
- François Pilon
- John Sadowy
- Luigi Allemano
- additional models
- Stephanie Duong
- additional animation
- Stephanie Duong
- graphic design
- Jason Lee
- digital imaging specialist
- Susan Gourley
- camera
- Zacharie Fay
- camera assistant
- Francis Hanneman
- picture editing
- Oana Suteu
- recording
- Geoffrey Mitchell
- Sylvain Cajelais
- Eric Apps
- foley
- Karla Baumgardner
- additional sound recording
- Marco Fania
- additional sound editing
- Marco Fania
- re-recording
- Jean Paul Vialard
- titles
- Gaspard Gaudreau
- online editing
- Denis Gathelier
- grocery store shopper
- Marco Fania
- Helen King
- Janis Kirshner
- Julie Tamiko Manning
- Rebecca Singh
- technical coordination
- Jelena Popovic
- Samuel Lambert
- Julie Laperrière
- Richard Lesage
- marketing
- Hélène Tanguay
- Melissa Wheeler
- studio administration
- Gisèle Guilbault
- Rosalina Di Sario
- Jocelyne Lalonde
- executive producer
- David Verrall
- producer
- Michael Fukushima