Laurentiu Garofeanu
LOST AND FOUND: Romania’s Hidden Adoption Market
When a young Canadian woman who was sold as an infant in post-Ceaușescu Romania returns to reclaim her identity, she uncovers the machinery that trafficked the sister she never knew, one of 30,000 children “exported” for adoption.
SYNOPSIS
Almost thirty years after she was adopted from a marginalised Roma community in Călărași, Romania, by a middle-class Canadian family, Jessi begins a deeply personal investigation into her origins. What starts as a search for identity becomes a confrontation with the post-revolution marketplace, a post-communist system that sold thousands of children for international adoption. As Jessi travels back to her birth country, she uncovers unbelievable truths, contradictory records, meets evasive officials, and finds the sister she never knew existed. Filmed over seven years, and across two continents and four countries, LOST AND FOUND reveals tense reunions, intimate conversations, and DNA results, in a vérité journey into memory, loss, and resilience. The film explores the emotional cost of international adoption and the long shadow of a nation that has yet to reckon with its past. Ultimately, LOST AND FOUND asks: When does a human life become a commodity, and who has the right to claim it back?
DIRECTOR
Laurentiu Garofeanu
PRODUCERS
Laurentiu garofeanu
EDITOR
Iulian Ghervas
PRODUCTION COMPANIES
Mekanism Media (RO)
COUNTRIES
Romania
LENGTH
90 min
Laurentiu Garofeanu
LAURENTIU GAROFEANU is a Romanian-British filmmaker with over twenty years of experience creating award-winning documentaries and factual series for global audiences. He began his career in London and New York, working with Discovery, Animal Planet, Channel 4, National Geographic, and Amazon Prime. His credits include Body Bizarre, Extraordinary People, Preposterous Pets, Hooked on the Look, Born Different, Beast Buddies, Ridiculous Rides, and World’s Biggest Families. In 2016, Garofeanu founded Mekanism Media in Bucharest to develop author-driven documentaries focused on identity, memory, and social justice. With a cross-cultural approach and a strong ethical lens, Garofeanu blends vérité storytelling with emotional depth and investigative insight.
His debut feature, LOST AND FOUND, follows a seven-year journey across two continents, uncovering the hidden system that trafficked thousands of Romanian children. The film has been recognised internationally, winning the Balkan Watchers Grand Prize, production support from CNC Romania, and awards at Civil Society Pitch and One World Romania. It was also selected for East Doc Forum, DOK Leipzig, the Kraków Film Festival, and ZagrebDox.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
LOST AND FOUND began with a question that haunts me: When does a human life become a commodity? I grew up near an orphanage in post-communist Romania, surrounded by quiet stories no one wanted to tell. Years later, I emigrated to the UK and wrestled with my own questions of identity and belonging. As father to a daughter who belongs to three countries and three cultures, these questions feel more urgent and personal than ever. When I met Jessi, I was struck by her courage and confusion, caught as she is between countries, between truths. Her search for answers became the spine of the film. What emerged, however, was a larger story about systemic disappearance: of children, of memory, of accountability. If you’ve ever felt the ground shift beneath your feet, this film is for you.
Production company profile
Mekanism Media is a Bucharest-based production company dedicated to author-driven non-fiction stories from Central and Eastern Europe. Founded in 2016 by Laurențiu Garofeanu, after over fifteen years of producing award-winning factual content for the UK and US markets, the company brings a cross-cultural lens to urgent, character-led narratives that have strong emotional and social impact. LOST AND FOUND is set to be Mekanism Media’s flagship documentary. With experience across Europe and North America, Mekanism Media partners with NGOs, broadcasters, and festivals to create films that move audiences and spark real-world change.
Where are we at?
PRODUCTION BUDGET
€218,000
NEEDED FOR COMPLETION
€40,000
TERRITORIES AVAILABLE
Worldwide – all rights
EXPECTED RELEASE
Summer 2026.
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