Philomena (film)

Philomena is a 2013 drama film directed by Stephen Frears, based on the book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by journalist Martin Sixsmith. Starring Judi Dench and Steve Coogan, it tells the true story of Philomena Lees 50year search for her forcibly adopted son and Sixsmiths efforts to help her find him. The film was coproduced in the United States and the United Kingdom. It gained critical acclaim and received several international film awards. Coogan and Jeff Pope won Best Screenplay at the 70th Venice International Film Festival. It was also awarded the Peoples Choice Award RunnerUp prize at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was nominated in four categories at the 86th Academy Awards Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay for Coogan and Pope, Best Actress for Dench, and Best Original Score for Desplat. It was also nominated for four BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globe Awards.

In 1951, Philomena became pregnant and was sent by her father to Sean Ross Abbey in Roscrea in Ireland. After giving birth, she was forced to work in the convent laundry for four years, with little contact with her son. The nuns gave her son up for adoption without giving Philomena a chance to say goodbye. She kept her lost son a secret from her family for nearly fifty years.Martin and Philomena begin their search at the convent. The nuns claim that the adoption records were lost in a fire years earlier they did not, however, lose the contract she signed decades ago forbidding her from contacting her son, which Martin considers to be too convenient to be coincidence. At a pub, the locals tell Martin that the convent burnt the records deliberately, and that most of the children were sold for 1,000 each to rich Americans. ........

Source: Wikipedia