ORANGES & SUNSHINE

By Jim Loach • 2012 • 105’ • UK

Synopsis

ORANGES & SUNSHINE tells the story of Margaret Humphreys, a social worker from Nottingham who uncovered one of the most significant social scandals of recent times: the deportation of thousands of children from the United Kingdom to Australia.

Against overwhelming odds and with little regard for her own well-being, Margaret reunited thousands of families, brought authorities to account and drew worldwide attention to an extraordinary miscarriage of justice. Children as young as four had been told that their parents were dead, and been sent to children's homes on the other side of the world. Many were subjected to appalling abuse. They were promised oranges and sunshine: they got hard labour and life in institutions.

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Credits

Director: Jim Loach
Producers: Camilla Bray, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning
Writer: Rona Munro
Cast: Emily Watson, Hugo Weaving, David Wenham

Sales

Sold to all major territories.
Buy or rent on Amazon Prime.

REVIEWS

“Audiences may well be in tears just minutes into ORANGES & SUNSHINE, a deeply moving study of emotionally scarred adults who were illegally deported as children to Australia from Britain in the 1940s and ’50s. Toplining a superb Emily Watson as Margaret Humphreys… this standout debut by British director Jim Loach, will make a strong claim for arthouse cinema everywhere… In the best tradition of British social realism, Denson Baker’s largely handheld camera is steady and unobtrusive.”
– Variety

“[A]n emotional bombshell of a film that will leave audiences shaken. Based on Humphreys’ 1994 book Empty Cradles, the work marks an impressive directing debut by Jim Loach… Although dealing with dramatically charged subject matter, Loach and screenwriter Rona Munro (LADYBIRD LADYBIRD) handle the film’s emotional content in a particularly controlled and effective way.”
– Screen International

★★★★ “A heroic, heartfelt central performance by Emily Watson as the crusading (and humanly frail) social worker who uncovers the truth. A sensitive, beautifully crafted tearjerker.”
– Timeout

AWARDS & FESTIVALS

Australian Academy Awards

7 nominations
Winner – Best Actress for Emily Watson

Rome International Film Festival

Nominated for the Marc Aurelia Award

Australian Film Critics Association Awards

3 nominations
Winner – Best Actress for Emily Watson

Film Critics Circle of Australia

4 nominations
Winner – Best Supporting Actor for Hugo Weaving
Winner – Best Actress for Emily Watson

Pusan International Film Festival [World Premiere]

AFTERWORD

On 24 February 2010, while ORANGES & SUNSHINE was in production in Australia, the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued a formal apology in the Commons on behalf of the British Government.

“Until the late 1960s, successive UK Governments had over a long period of time supported child migration schemes. To all those former child migrants and their families... we are truly sorry. They were let down. We are sorry they were allowed to be sent away at the time when they were most vulnerable. We are sorry that instead of caring for them, this country turned its back. We are sorry that the voices of these children were not always heard, their cries for help not always heeded. And we are sorry that it has taken so long for this important day to come and for the full and unconditional apology that is justly deserved.”

The full text can be found here.

On 16 November 2009, while ORANGES & SUNSHINE was in production in the UK, the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd issued a formal apology to the ‘Forgotten Children’ in the Great Hall, Parliament House, Australia.

“We come together today to deal with an ugly chapter in our nation's history. And we come together today to offer our nation's apology. To say to you, the Forgotten Australians, and those who were sent to our shores as children without your consent, that we are sorry. Sorry - that as children you were taken from your families and placed in institutions where so often you were abused. Sorry - for the tragedy, the absolute tragedy, of childhoods lost. Sorry - for all these injustices to you, as children, who were placed in our care.

As a nation, we must now reflect on those who did not receive proper care. The truth is this is an ugly story. And its ugliness must be told without fear or favour if we are to confront fully the demons of our past.”