Spring Break
The Daily OrangeHis born identity
Senior Chris Ventura documents his trip to Texas in search to find his biological mother in "Baby Boy Clemmer"
By Erinn Connor
Posted: 5/7/08, 8:05 PM EST Section: Feature
But discovering exactly where and who he came from was never a priority for Ventura growing up. He was content with his life and rarely gave his birth mother a passing thought. Until he arrived at Syracuse University.
Here, Ventura was away from the family he was so familiar with - and began thinking about the family he knew nothing about.
"In college, you're not with your parents, you have all this idle time by yourself," Ventura said. "And I'm not much of a student, so I spent a lot of time thinking more about it."
**
Ventura wasn't accustomed to making documentaries. All the previous work he'd done in class and out was narrative film - movie theater fare. But while this initially started out as strictly a film, he recognized this was a chance to connect his passion for film with his growing desire to figure out his roots.
His parents, Vito and Lorraine Ventura, have been very supportive of their son's quest to find his biological mother, though not without some anxiety.
In the film's trailer, his mother gives her blessing to Chris, but then it later cuts to an argument in which she feels left out of the search and confronts him.
She said as long as she was involved in the process and Chris let her know what was going on, she was comfortable with it. But she also emphasized that both her and her husband were extremely supportive about the whole process and weren't going to try to stop him.
"My initial thoughts when Chris asked me the question - I was very supportive," said Vito, Chris' adoptive father. "Initially obviously I was a little hesitant, but I didn't want to stop him. He has a right to know, and we tried to give him everything he needed."
And they gave Chris all the help he asked for. Because it was a closed adoption in Texas, normally legal action would have to be taken to find out either of the biological parents.
But once the Venturas gave Chris the adoption documents, Chris discovered the name of his biological mother was merely blacked out with Sharpie - and he could easily decipher it.
Here, Ventura was away from the family he was so familiar with - and began thinking about the family he knew nothing about.
"In college, you're not with your parents, you have all this idle time by yourself," Ventura said. "And I'm not much of a student, so I spent a lot of time thinking more about it."
**
Ventura wasn't accustomed to making documentaries. All the previous work he'd done in class and out was narrative film - movie theater fare. But while this initially started out as strictly a film, he recognized this was a chance to connect his passion for film with his growing desire to figure out his roots.
His parents, Vito and Lorraine Ventura, have been very supportive of their son's quest to find his biological mother, though not without some anxiety.
In the film's trailer, his mother gives her blessing to Chris, but then it later cuts to an argument in which she feels left out of the search and confronts him.
She said as long as she was involved in the process and Chris let her know what was going on, she was comfortable with it. But she also emphasized that both her and her husband were extremely supportive about the whole process and weren't going to try to stop him.
"My initial thoughts when Chris asked me the question - I was very supportive," said Vito, Chris' adoptive father. "Initially obviously I was a little hesitant, but I didn't want to stop him. He has a right to know, and we tried to give him everything he needed."
And they gave Chris all the help he asked for. Because it was a closed adoption in Texas, normally legal action would have to be taken to find out either of the biological parents.
But once the Venturas gave Chris the adoption documents, Chris discovered the name of his biological mother was merely blacked out with Sharpie - and he could easily decipher it.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Anthony
posted 5/18/09 @ 5:44 PM EST
Get your gameboy ready!
LUCILLE VENTURA SCLAFANI
posted 5/20/09 @ 11:01 AM EST
DEAR MY NEPHEW CHRISTOPHER
I CANT BELIEVE HOW MUCH TIME HAS PAST. I WAS SURFING
THE NET AND WHEN I CAME UPON THIS QUEST OF YOURS.
I AM SO HAPPY THAT YOUR FOLLOWING YOUR HEART. (Continued…)
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