Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go

Showing at the Hot Docs Film Festival: Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go, directed by Kim Longinotto

Synopsis from the Hot Docs website:

Longinotto brings us another incredible film about struggling children living in extraordinary circumstances, but this time back on her home turf. Mulberry Bush in Oxford is a boarding school catering to children who have been expelled from regular schools for extreme behaviour. The three-year program gives them the chance to turn their lives around and re-enter the regular school system. Longinotto spends a year at the school following the progress of four charming but troubled boys. All have severe problems with anger and violence; they punch, kick, spit, and curse at the remarkably patient teachers who are trained never to raise their voices. The film compassionately captures the battle these children go through to give voice to the hurt they carry inside. A sensitive and heart-rending study of the results of family dysfunction, Hold Me Tight also bears witness to the effects—good and bad—that adults have on growing children. - Shannon Abel