Film shot in Danbury highlights pain of child-custody battles

"Talk to Strangers" is an award-winning child advocacy film shot in and around Danbury, Conn. "Talk to Strangers" is an award-winning child advocacy film shot in and around Danbury, Conn. Photo: Contributed Photo Photo: Contributed Photo Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Film shot in Danbury highlights pain of child-custody battles 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

DANBURY -- After years working in family law and dabbling with filmmaking, a Fairfield County attorney has produced a short film that he hopes will show what a "horrible ordeal for kids" child custody battles can be.

"I have seen too many children go through this custody evaluation process and suffer from it in ways that aren't necessarily apparent to their parents or to the lawyers involved or to the judges," said Laurence Sarezky, a Fairfield-based family law attorney who wrote and directed the film "Talk to Strangers", which was primarily shot in Danbury. The film will have its first local screening on April 23 in Bethel Cinema at 4:30 p.m.

And though Sarezky has found success on the festival circuit with a previous short film he produced, he hopes "Talk to Strangers" will have more of an immediate impact on people whose lives may be mirrored in those of the film's characters.

"Ultimately, we're hoping that parents who are considering or maybe have begun a custody battle get to see it," he said. "The earlier the better, I can't overemphasize that."

The film tells the story of a fictional family going through a custody battle over their son and daughter after the parents have been divorced.

Shot in places like the state Superior Courthouse on White Street and attorneys' offices, the film takes on a faux documentary style to tell the family's story, which Sarezky felt would be "the most efficient way to get a lot of facts to the audience quickly."

Throughout the film, the story presents eight myths about child-custody disputes and seeks to correct them through the experiences of the characters.

"(The myths) seem reasonable when the parents articulate them and then in the rest of the film we see why those myths are not really accurate," he said.

More Information "Talk to Strangers" will have its first local screening April 23 in Bethel Cinema at 4:30 p.m.

One myth the film tackles is parents' assumption that their children will be insulated from harm in the child-custody battle by judges, who are there to protect them.

"Well, that's true -- judges do protect children and they're very conscientious about it, but the problem is judges don't become involved in the process until the custody evaluation is completed, so in that sense the damage is already done," he said. "The kids have been compromised."

In the early 2000s, Sarezky began taking screenwriting classes and soon started thinking about making his own films with the help of connections he'd made with filmmakers.

"The problem with screenwriting is if you're not one of the lucky few who gets your film produced, the script goes in the drawer," he said. "If you want to see it come to life you got to make the film yourself."

His previous film, "Ed Meets His Maker," won several awards on the festival circuit. But for his next film, Sarezky and his co-producer, Danbury Attorney Deborah Grover, wanted to affect their audience in a more immediate way.

"What we were concerned about were the number of unnecessary battles between the parents over their custody or access to the children," Sarezky said.

While there are a lot of cases that demand court intervention, particularly those involving issues like substance abuse, mental illness or domestic violence, those are not the cases "Talk to Strangers" has in mind.

Going forward, Sarezky hopes the film will find its way into the hands of attorneys like him, mental health professionals and members of the clergy, who may have opportunities to show it to parents considering going to court to settle a custody dispute.

"We wanted to really tug on the heart strings and make an emotional pitch to these parents because sometimes just an intellectual argument isn't going to reach them," he said. "In the turmoil of divorce emotion can take over."

domalley@newstimes.com, @domalleynt, 203-731-3350