Foster Boy

The life of Michael Trainer (Matthew Modine), a cold-hearted successful litigator with a long career protecting corporate clients, takes a sharp turn when he is forced by the court’s judge (Louis Gossett Jr.) to represent Jamal Randolph (Shane Paul McGhie), an angry young man in prison after years of abuse in foster care. The more Trainer (Three Piece, as Jamal calls him) learns about Jamal (Thug, as Trainer calls him), the more we discover a systemically corrupt for-profit foster care system that, for Jamal, has lead to catastrophic results. Dark secrets are probed and unearthed, as a tough corporate lawyer transforms into a heroic defender and an abused young victim of a system that has failed him becomes an outspoken face for change. Inspired by true events, the combined strength of the story and the impeccable cast illuminate both the power of the human spirit and the horrifying deceitfulness and abuse of a system that impacts hundreds of thousands of children each year. (Woodstock Film Festival)