Foster Boy, a legal drama, follows the trial of a for-profit Foster care agency, who puts a known sex offender into the same foster home as a lawyer’s young client, Jamal, with catastrophic results. Each man heals the other in the pursuit of justice, as they expose the horrifying corrupt agency.
A film festival favourite, Foster Boy has won 17 major awards at the International Black Film Festival, Sedona Film Festival, Pan African Film Festival, Woodstock Film Festival, and the Dallas Film Festival. It has received honours including Best Picture, Best Full-Length Picture, and Best of the Fest.
Foster Boy stars Matthew Modine (Stranger Things), Shane Paul McGhie (After We Collided) and Academy, Oscar and Golden Globe winner Louis Gossett Jr., activates reform against corruption in foster care.
Foster Boy is based on writer Jay Paul Deratany’s experiences as a trial lawyer fighting for child welfare in Chicago.
Foster Boy is produced by Peter Samuelson; founder of First Star, a charity that gives academic support to young adults in the care system aiming at higher education or their first job. Lead Shane Paul McGhie maintains that getting to know kids from First Star, who bravely shared their experiences of Foster Care, was the driving force behind his moving portrayal of Jamal. He says, “They anonymously wrote me some letters, which I stuck up on my trailer mirror to remind me every day. If I was approaching a challenging scene I would look up at the letters and get that knowing that this was bigger than me and that I was doing it for them.”
Foster Boy is now available on Digital Download from 1st March.