The Wait

(La espera)
Darío Doria | Documentary

2026 | 79 minutes | Argentina

The Wait explores children denied family life, revealing the complexities of growing up without nurturing relationships and waiting for a family.

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Synopsis

The Wait tells the stories of children whose right to live in a family has been violated. Childhoods that are trying to be contained and repaired. Some are told in the first person, others in the third, in the present and in the past. Some are bright, others less so. A collage of lives that reveals how difficult it is, how difficult it must be, to grow up outside a nurturing family, without a mother, without a father, without the support of caring relationships.

Moving away from a romanticized or adult-centered view of adoption, director Dario Doria asks what it means to understand adoption from the perspective of the children who are actually waiting—and what is required of the adults who hope to become their families.

Reviews

“Far from any romanticized view, it starkly exposes the reality of children who are not adopted.” — Laia Cabuli, EscribiendoCine

“Darío Doria’s documentary is, on the surface, a series of interviews that reveal different experiences centered on the topic of adoption. On a deeper level, it is a documentary that revolves around those perceptions of time, which create tension and can only be resolved—paradoxically—with time.” — José Luis Visconti, Hacerse La Crítica

“A successful and original documentary film that addresses the possible transitions of children from care homes to family life.” — Sergio Arboleya, Reencuadre.

"A sensitive approach that reveals all the stages and complexities of the system.” — Juan Pablo Mansilla, Línea Documental.

Citation

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Cataloging

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Keywords
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Festivals

BAFICI Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival

DIRECTOR: Darío Doria

NATIONALITY: Argentina

YEAR: 2026

GENRE: Documentary

LANGUAGE: Spanish

COLOR / B&W: Color

GRADE LEVEL: High School, College, Adult

SUBTITLE/CC: AVAILABLE

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: NOT AVAILABLE

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