ABOUT THE FILM

A silent tragedy is taking place in Japan with alarming frequency and it's long past time to bring it into the light. Japan is a country where parental abduction and retention happens everyday. It goes mostly unpunished and in fact is often encouraged mainly because of terribly insufficient laws and a powerless family court system that can do next to nothing to stop it. The police don't get involved, the politicians and media largely pretend it's not a problem, and parents are left on their own to decide their fate in an environment where the first one to grab the kids and run, is the one who gets sole custody. It's time for this issue to become known and it's time for Japan to take responsibility and address this dark area of its proud culture.

We will examine several cases of parental abduction to show how it happens and what consequences occur as a result. We will hear from professors, lawyers, psychologists, lawmakers and parents of abducted children. We will also meet children who were abducted and we will attempt to speak to the parents who abducted them though to date none have acquiesced our invitations.

-We will talk to Murray Wood who having sole custody of his two kids in Canada, granted permission to his ex-wife to take his kids to Japan for a brief trip to see her "ailing" grandfather. She never brought them back. He has only been allowed to see them once in a Japanese courtroom for 15 minutes since. That was 3 years ago. We will also film Murray on a trip to Japan to try to reestablish contact with his kids. We will join him when he goes to the house they live in now and tries to meet them on their route to school.

-We will speak with Paulo Marques who lost his daughter when she was three years old. Paulo had agreed to pay the mother $230,000 in exchange for a contract with scheduled visiting hours. They both signed and he sent her the money but she then vanished with his daughter and the money. Paulo stayed in Japan, and tried many times to find his daughter, even hiring a P.I. to help him at one point, but he didn't know where she was for 16 years until a phone call in January 2007.

-We will talk to 16 year old Chris Gulbraa who daringly returned to his father on August 31st, 2006 by himself after being abducted to Japan by his mother 4 years earlier. We will listen as Chris explains how the abduction occurred and the things he was told by his mother and step-father about his father Mike Gulbraa, to try to get Chris to turn against his father. We will hear the details of the day Chris made his escape back to the US and all the planning and organization that his father did to make it possible. We will be with Chris and his father when he tries to contact his older brother Mike who is still in Japan.

As Japan continues to develop and appeals for a position on the UN security council and as international marriages and divorces between Japanese and Non-Japanese increase significantly each year the need to bring this issue into the light is stronger than ever. It's with that in mind that we have spent the last 2 years flying all over the world to be able to tell you this story.

This is a film for the world to learn about this dramatic situation, for a country that needs to address this growing problem, for parents and families who have had their children taken from them, and most importantly for the children who are forced to suffer the most....From the Shadows.