High Five -- Film Description:
"Award-winning director Julia Ivanova immerses herself in the lives of Cathy and Martin Ward, a suburban Canadian couple who travel to Ukraine to adopt five siblings, the youngest six and the eldest nearly 17. The adoption process begins with Alyona and Snezhana coming to Canada while the other siblings remain at the orphanage, joining their sisters a year later. Over the course of four years, complications of international adoption, cultural collisions and sibling rivalries arise, as Yuliya (the eldest sibling), who assumed a motherly role in the orphanage, struggles to find her place in the family. Ivanova's sensitivity to the complexity of her subjects makes her keenly aware of when to step back and let the camera linger, and when to intervene to expose the larger truths that might otherwise remain hidden. The result is an intimate and emotional look at a modern 21st-century family."
-- Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival

Source:
Hot Docs Screening Schedule. Toronto: Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, 2013. [booklet]