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U.S. Dramatic Competition

Take Me Home

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United States202691 minEnglish
Take Me Home

Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: US Dramatic

Anna, a 38-year-old Korean adoptee with a cognitive disability, cares for her aging parents in a fragile balance of meeting one another’s needs. When a Florida heat wave shatters their family and Anna’s routine, her future is uncertain until she creates a world where she can thrive.

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Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: US Dramatic

Anna, a 38-year-old Korean adoptee with a cognitive disability, cares for her aging parents in a fragile balance of meeting one another’s needs. When a Florida heat wave shatters their family and Anna’s routine, her future is uncertain until she creates a world where she can thrive.

Liz Sargent’s intimate debut drama examines the shifting demands placed on a unique — and uniquely vulnerable — family in a Florida suburb. Working with a terrific ensemble, the writer-director details the struggles of Anna (newcomer Anna Sargent, the directors sister), fellow adopted sibling Emily (Ali Ahn), and devoted father Bob (Victor Slezak), who is succumbing to dementia.

Expanded from Sargent’s acclaimed short (2023 Sundance Film Festival), Take Me Home exposes the indignities of the American health care system and the structural challenges faced by disabled people. The film also gently and imaginatively traces a path for Anna’s independence and connection to a community of chosen family. By turns quietly devastating and bracingly optimistic, Take Me Home confronts us with an impossible situation, while holding out hope for Anna’s future. — MC

This film contains strobe effects.

Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 29–February 1) and credentialed press and industry (January 28–February 1).

U.S. Dramatic CompetitionAll FeaturesBIPOC StoriesFirst-Time FeaturesWomen-Centered StoriesDramaFictionAudio DescriptionClosed CaptionOpen CaptionPhotosensitivitySensory Friendly ScreeningU.S. Only- less

Credits

  • Director(s)

    Liz Sargent

  • Screenwriter

    Liz Sargent

  • Producer

    Apoorva Guru Charan

    Minos Papas

    Liz Sargent

  • Director of Photography

    Farhad Ahmed Dehlvi

  • Editor

    Ian Holden

  • Costume Designer

    Min Ji Kim

  • Music by

    Nathan Halpern

    Chris Ruggiero

  • Hair & Makeup

    Lera Juno

  • Production Sound Mixer

    Mike Garofalo

  • Prop Master

    Tera Leigh Kenney

  • Acting Coach to Anna Sargent

    Terra Mackintosh

  • Executive Producers

    Ai-jen Poo

    Lydia Storie

    Jane Shin Park

    Andrew Kim

    Bryce Norbitz

    Michelle Hamada

    Philipp Engelhorn

    Candice Sanchez McFarlane

    Bill Pohlad

    Kelly Martin

    Janet Yang

  • Principal Cast

    Anna Sargent

    Victor Slezak

    Ali Ahn

    Marceline Hugot

    Shane Harper

Meet the Artist

Panelist Name

Liz Sargent

  • Instagram

Liz Sargent is a Korean American adoptee. The proof-of-concept short Take Me Home premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, won American Cinematheque’s 2024 PROOF Film Festival Grand Jury Prize, and screened at the White House for the Olmstead decision’s 25th anniversary (2024). Its feature pitch won the 2025 Tribeca Festival’s AT&T Untold Stories Award.

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