Misc Cultural Gems
Films that give insights and unique perspectives into various cultures/communities.
List activity
398 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
115 titles
- DirectorRichard GlatzerWash WestmorelandStarsEmily RiosJesse GarciaChalo GonzálezAs Magdalena's 15th birthday approaches, her simple, blissful life is complicated by the discovery that she's pregnant. Kicked out of her house, she finds a new family with her great-granduncle and gay cousin.
- DirectorChris EyreStarsAdam BeachEvan AdamsIrene BedardArnold rescued Thomas from a fire when he was a child. Thomas thinks of Arnold as a hero, while Arnold's son Victor resents his father's alcoholism, violence and abandonment of his family.
- DirectorRobert RedfordStarsRubén BladesRichard BradfordSonia BragaThe accidental breakdown of an irrigation valve launches a hot confrontation between the mainly Latino farmers in a tiny New Mexico town and the real estate developers and politicians determined to acquire their land for a golf resort.
- DirectorMaria RipollStarsHector ElizondoJacqueline ObradorsTamara MelloA Mexican-American master chef and father to three daughters has lost his taste for food, but not for life.
- DirectorMaggie GreenwaldStarsJanet McTeerMichael HardingMichael DavisAfter being denied a promotion at the university where she teaches, Doctor Lily Penleric, a brilliant musicologist, impulsively visits her sister, who runs a struggling rural school in Appalachia. There she stumbles upon the discovery of her life - a treasure trove of ancient Scots-Irish ballads, songs that have been handed down from generation to generation, preserved intact by the seclusion of the mountains. With the goal of securing her promotion, Lily ventures into the most isolated areas of the mountains to collect the songs and finds herself increasingly enchanted - not only by the rugged purity of the music, but also by the raw courage and endurance of the local people as they carve out meaningful lives against the harshest conditions. It is not, however, until she meets Tom - a handsome, hardened war veteran and talented musician - that she's forced to examine her motivations. Is the "Songcatcher," as Tom insists, no better than the men who exploit the people and extort their land?
- DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsMorgan FreemanJessica TandyDan AykroydAn old Jewish woman and her African-American chauffeur in the American South have a relationship that grows and improves over the years.
- DirectorEdward NortonStarsBen StillerEdward NortonJenna ElfmanTwo friends, a priest and a rabbi, fall in love with the same woman they knew in their youth, but the religious position of both men denies them romance.
- DirectorTom McCarthyStarsRichard JenkinsHaaz SleimanDanai GuriraA college professor travels to New York City to attend a conference and finds a young couple living in his apartment.
- DirectorDiane CrespoStefan C. SchaeferStarsZoe Lister-JonesFrancis BenhamouMimi LieberARRANGED centers on the friendship between an Orthodox Jewish woman and a Muslim woman who meet as first-year teachers at a public school in Brooklyn. Over the course of the year they learn they share much in common - not least of which is that they are both going through the process of arranged marriages.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsDanny GloverWhoopi GoldbergOprah WinfreyA tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry.
- DirectorJoel ZwickStarsNia VardalosJohn CorbettMichael ConstantineA young Greek woman falls in love with a non-Greek and struggles to get her family to accept him while she comes to terms with her heritage and cultural identity.
- DirectorMichael AptedStarsVal KilmerSam ShepardGraham GreeneA young mixed-blood FBI agent is assigned to work with a cynical veteran investigator on a murder on a poverty-stricken Sioux reservation.
- DirectorRichard FriedenbergStarsJames CromwellJoseph AshtonTantoo CardinalLittle Tree is an 8-year-old Cherokee boy who loses his parents during The Great Depression and begins living with his Indian grandparents and learning the Cherokee way of life.
- DirectorGregory NavaStarsJimmy SmitsEsai MoralesEdward James OlmosA man makes his way from Mexico to Los Angeles in the 1920s and gets married and raises a big family there. The movie follows the children until they get married and start their families in the 1960s.
- DirectorAlfonso ArauStarsKeanu ReevesAitana Sánchez-GijónAnthony QuinnPaul Sutton, a young married soldier, befriends a pregnant lady who is petrified her father will disown her, and agrees to pose as her boyfriend. As time passes, they start growing fond of each other.
- DirectorNorman JewisonStarsTopolNorma CraneLeonard FreyIn pre-revolutionary Russia, a Jewish peasant with traditional values contends with marrying off three of his daughters with modern romantic ideals while growing anti-Semitic sentiment threatens his village.
- DirectorJim SheridanStarsPaddy ConsidineSamantha MortonDjimon HounsouA family of Irish immigrants adjust to life on the mean streets of Hell's Kitchen while also grieving the death of a child.
- DirectorJonathan WacksStarsGary FarmerA MartinezJoanelle RomeroTwo Northern Cheyenne men take a road trip from Montana to New Mexico to bail out the sister of one of them who has been framed and arrested in Santa Fe. On the way, they begin to reconnect to their spiritual heritage.
- DirectorTate TaylorStarsViola DavisEmma StoneOctavia SpencerAn aspiring author during the civil rights movement of the 1960s decides to write a book detailing the African American maids' point of view on the white families for which they work, and the hardships they go through on a daily basis.
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsHarrison FordKelly McGillisLukas HaasWhile protecting an Amish boy - who is the sole witness to a brutal murder - and his mother, a detective is forced to seek refuge within their community when his own life is threatened.
- DirectorStuart MargolinStarsGraham GreeneTom JacksonSheila TouseyWhen photographer Will returns home for his mother's funeral he gets more than he bargained for from a strange cast of characters on the reservation.
- DirectorJeremy KaganStarsMaximilian SchellRod SteigerRobby BensonIn 1944, in Brooklyn, two Jewish kids become friends. One is from a very conservative family, and the other is more liberal. The issues of importance of tradition, parental expectations and the formation of Israel cause constant friction.
- DirectorMira NairStarsMarisa TomeiAnjelica HustonAlfred MolinaIn 1980, USA opens to Cuban refugees. Once in Miami, Dorita tries to create a Perez "family" of 3 to get a sponsor. She wants Juan to be her "husband" - plus a "son" or "dad".
- DirectorMira NairStarsDenzel WashingtonSarita ChoudhuryRoshan SethAn ethnic Indian family is expelled from Idi Amin's Uganda in 1972 and lives in Mississippi 17 years later. The dad sues Uganda to get his property back. The grown daughter falls in love with a Black man.
- DirectorBarbra StreisandStarsBarbra StreisandAmy IrvingMandy PatinkinA Jewish girl disguises herself as a boy to enter religious training.
- DirectorLiev SchreiberStarsElijah WoodEugene HutzBoris LyoskinA young Jewish American man, with the help of an eccentric local, endeavors to find the woman who saved his grandfather during World War II in a Ukrainian village that was ultimately razed by the Nazis.
- DirectorJohn G. AvildsenStarsMorgan FreemanBeverly ToddRobert GuillaumeThe dedicated but tyrannical Joe Clark is appointed the principal of a decaying inner-city school he is determined to improve by any and all means.
- DirectorMira NairStarsKal PennIrrfan KhanTabuAmerican-born Gogol, the son of Indian immigrants, wants to fit in among his fellow New Yorkers, despite his family's unwillingness to let go of their traditional ways.
- DirectorRamón MenéndezStarsEdward James OlmosEstelle HarrisMark PhelanThe story of Jaime Escalante, a high school teacher who successfully inspired his dropout-prone students to learn calculus.
- DirectorCherien DabisStarsNisreen FaourMelkar MuallemHiam AbbassA drama centered on the trials and tribulations of a proud Palestinian Christian immigrant single mother and her teenage son in small town Indiana.
- DirectorAntonio BanderasStarsMelanie GriffithDavid MorseLucas BlackAn abused wife heads to California to become a movie star while her nephew back in Alabama has to deal with a racially-motivated murder involving a corrupt sheriff.
- DirectorJohn SingletonStarsCuba Gooding Jr.Laurence FishburneHudhail Al-AmirFollows the lives of three young males living in the Crenshaw ghetto of Los Angeles, dissecting questions of race, relationships, violence, and future prospects.
- DirectorKevin CostnerStarsKevin CostnerMary McDonnellGraham GreeneLieutenant John Dunbar, assigned to a remote western Civil War outpost, finds himself engaging with a neighbouring Sioux settlement, causing him to question his own purpose.
- DirectorGina Prince-BythewoodStarsDakota FanningJennifer HudsonQueen LatifahIn 1964, a teenage girl in search of the truth about her mother runs away to a small town in South Carolina and finds a family of independent women who can connect her to her past.
- DirectorJean-Jacques AnnaudStarsBrad PittDavid ThewlisBD WongHeinrich Harrer, an Austrian climber, breaks out of prison and travels to the holy city of Lhasa. He is employed as an instructor to the 14th Dalai Lama and soon becomes his close confidante.
- DirectorFrank PiersonStarsEric RobertsJudd HirschSusan SarandonIn the criminal and violent world of modern-day Gypsies based in New York City, their 'king' Zharko Stepanowicz passes his leadership to his unwilling grandson, leaving the skipped father resentful.
- DirectorTheresa ConnellyStarsClaire DanesGabriel ByrneLena OlinThe film centers on a big Polish family. Jadzia is the mother and the ruler of the Pzoniak family (she has five children). Though she's happily married to Bolek, she is also having a long-time affair with Roman. Her young daughter Hala is having an affair with neighbour cop Russell and becomes pregnant by him. Russell is pressed hard to marry Hala.
- DirectorBarry LevinsonStarsAidan QuinnElizabeth PerkinsLeo FuchsA Polish-Jewish family comes to the U.S. at the beginning of the twentieth century. There, the family and their children try to make themselves a better future in the so-called promised land.
- DirectorGeorge Tillman Jr.StarsVanessa WilliamsVivica A. FoxNia LongOne person can keep a family together and, when that one person is gone, a family can be torn apart.
- DirectorTim StoryStarsIce CubeCedric The EntertainerEveA day in the life of a South Side Chicago barbershop.
- DirectorWayne WangStarsTamlyn TomitaRosalind ChaoKieu ChinhThe life histories of four East Asian women and their daughters reflect and guide each other.
- DirectorBenh ZeitlinStarsQuvenzhané WallisDwight HenryLevy EasterlyFaced with both her hot-tempered father's fading health and melting ice-caps that flood her ramshackle bayou community and unleash ancient aurochs, six-year-old Hushpuppy must learn the ways of courage and love.
- DirectorWayne BlairStarsChris O'DowdDeborah MailmanJessica MauboyIn 1968, four talented young Australian Aboriginal girls learn about love, friendship, and war when their all-girl group The Sapphires entertains the US troops in Vietnam.
- DirectorKay PollakStarsMichael NyqvistFrida HallgrenHelen SjöholmA famous international conductor returns to his small childhood town in Sweden for early retirement. He's asked to help with the church choir. He affects the lives of all in the choir.
- DirectorRuba NaddaStarsPatricia ClarksonAlexander SiddigElena AnayaA romantic drama about a brief, unexpected love affair that catches two people completely off-guard.
- DirectorTony GatlifStarsLa CaitaThe journey of the Romany people told through musicians and dancers of India, Egypt, Turkey, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, France, and Spain.
- DirectorGeorge MillerStarsOlympia DukakisSigrid ThorntonDerek FowldsAn American woman on vacation in Sydney buys a car and travels across Australia on a voyage of self-discovery.
- DirectorCraig GillespieStarsJon HammAasif MandviAlan ArkinA sports agent stages an unconventional recruitment strategy to get talented Indian cricket players to play Major League Baseball.
- DirectorAlison SwanStarsKaryn ParsonsIsaiah WashingtonEric ThalNia is a successful copy writer at ad agency, and she leads white yuppie life (though her mother is black). She quits the agency when she is ordered to push a new brand of beer to black urban kids and goes searching for her racial identity.
- DirectorPatricia CardosoStarsAmerica FerreraLupe OntiverosIngrid OliuIn East Los Angeles, an 18-year-old struggles between her ambitions of going to college and the desires of her domineering mother for her to get married, have children, and oversee the small, rundown family-owned textile factory.
- DirectorMina ShumStarsSandra OhStephen ChangClaudette CarracedoEast clashes with West and generations collide as a young Chinese woman struggles to appease her old-fashioned father, and at the same time pursue her modern dreams.
- DirectorNiki CaroStarsKeisha Castle-HughesRawiri ParateneVicky HaughtonA contemporary story of love, rejection and triumph as a young Maori girl fights to fulfill a destiny her grandfather refuses to recognize.
- DirectorMaria GovanStarsRenel BrownNicki MicheauxCCH PounderDetermined to reconcile with the mother who abandoned her when she was just a toddler, a Bahamian adolescent boards a local mail boat and sets sail for Nassau in director Maria Govan's intimate family drama. Rain has lived a sheltered life on Ragged Island, but now the death of her grandmother has forced her to get out and explore the world on her own. Upon arriving in Nassau the young girl is overwhelmed by the sights of the big city, and soon finds her idealistic illusions shattered when she witnesses firsthand just how deviant and destructive her mother's lifestyle has truly become. Stranded in a an unfamiliar environment that fills her with dread and confronted by a mother she has never known, Rain searches deep within herself to summon the strength needed to find her own place in the world.
- DirectorShawn LevyStarsJason BatemanTina FeyJane FondaAfter their father passes away, four grown siblings are forced to return to their childhood home and live under the same roof for a week, along with their over-sharing mother and an assortment of spouses, exes, and might-have-beens.
- DirectorLasse HallströmStarsHelen MirrenOm PuriManish DayalThe Kadam family leaves India for France where they open a restaurant directly across the road from Madame Mallory's Michelin-starred eatery.
- DirectorJohn MaddenStarsJudi DenchMaggie SmithBill NighyAs the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel has only a single remaining vacancy, posing a rooming predicament for two fresh arrivals, Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel) pursues his expansionist dream of opening a second hotel.
- DirectorMetin HüseyinStarsKabir BediMax BeesleySanjeev BhaskarMeena, a 12-year-old living in a mining village in the English Midlands in 1972, is the daughter of Indian parents who have come to England to give her a better life. This idyllic existence is upset by the arrival in the village of Anita Rutter and her dysfunctional family. Anita is 14, blonde and beautiful, exactly what Meena thinks she wants to be. She becomes part of Anita's world, but events do not run smoothly. Meena is growing up, and that brings plenty of changes.
- DirectorRitesh BatraStarsIrrfan KhanNimrat KaurNawazuddin SiddiquiA mistaken delivery in Mumbai's famously efficient lunchbox delivery system connects a young housewife to an older man in the dusk of his life as they build a fantasy world together through notes in the lunchbox.
- DirectorMatthew WarchusStarsBill NighyImelda StauntonDominic WestU.K. gay activists work to help miners during their lengthy strike of the National Union of Mineworkers in the summer of 1984.
- DirectorCao HamburgerStarsMichel JoelsasGermano HaiutDaniela PiepszykA boy is left alone in a Jewish neighborhood in 1970, when the World Cup coincides with political crackdowns by the military dictatorship.
- DirectorSean McNamaraStarsGeorge LopezJamie Lee CurtisCarlos PenaVegaFour Mexican high school students form a robotics club. With no experience, 800 bucks, used car parts and a dream, this rag tag team goes up against the country's reigning robotics champion, MIT.
- DirectorSpike LeeStarsNick CannonTeyonah ParrisWesley SnipesA modern day adaptation of the ancient Greek play Lysistrata by Aristophanes, set against the backdrop of gang violence in Chicago, Illinois.
- DirectorYôjirô TakitaStarsMasahiro MotokiRyôko HirosueTsutomu YamazakiSoon after buying an expensive cello, Daigo learns that his orchestra is disbanding. He moves back to his hometown with his wife, where he answers an ad for what Daigo thinks is a travel agency but is, in actuality, a mortuary.
- DirectorJohn CrowleyStarsSaoirse RonanEmory CohenDomhnall GleesonAn Irish immigrant lands in 1950s Brooklyn, where she quickly falls into a romance with a local. When her past catches up with her, however, she must choose between two countries and the lives that exist within.
- DirectorAva DuVernayStarsDavid OyelowoCarmen EjogoOprah WinfreyA chronicle of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s campaign to secure equal voting rights via an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965.
- DirectorChris WeitzStarsDemián BichirJosé JuliánEddie 'Piolin' SoteloA gardener in East L.A. struggles to keep his son away from gangs and immigration agents while trying to give his son the opportunities he never had.
- DirectorMeng ZhangBo GaoStarsQianyuan WangYongzhen GuoQian LiuTo fight for custody of his daughter who loves playing the piano, a steel factory worker decides to forge a piano from scratch.
- DirectorLee DanielsStarsForest WhitakerOprah WinfreyJohn CusackAs Cecil Gaines serves eight presidents during his tenure as a butler at the White House, the civil rights movement, Vietnam, and other major events affect this man's life, family, and American society.
- DirectorDuncan TuckerStarsFelicity HuffmanKevin ZegersFionnula FlanaganA transgender woman takes an unexpected journey when she learns that she had a son, now a teenage runaway hustling on the streets of New York.
- DirectorJohn JeffcoatStarsJosh HamiltonAyesha DharkerAsif BasraAfter his entire department is outsourced, an American novelty products salesman (Hamilton) heads to India to train his replacement.
- DirectorJohn SaylesStarsDanny GloverLisaGay HamiltonYaya DaCosta1950. Rural Alabama. Cotton harvest. It's a make-or-break weekend for the Honeydripper Lounge and its owner, piano player Tyrone "Pine Top" Purvis. Deep in debt to the liquor man, the chicken man, and the landlord, Tyrone is desperate to lure the young cotton pickers and local Army base recruits into his juke joint, away from Touissant's, the rival joint across the way. His plan to hire a guitar legend goes awry and Tyrone is forced to take drastic action in a final scheme to save the club.
- DirectorAdriana TrigianiStarsAshley JuddPatrick WilsonWhoopi GoldbergIn a small town nestled in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, self-proclaimed spinster Ave Maria Mulligan finds her life shaken up and forever changed after learning a long-buried family secret.
- DirectorGeorgina Garcia RiedelStarsElizabeth PeñaAmerica FerreraLucy GallardoThree generations of women in a Mexican American family experience sexual awakenings over the course of a summer.
- DirectorStephen FrearsStarsSaeed JaffreyRoshan SethDaniel Day-LewisAn ambitious Pakistani Briton and his white boyfriend strive for success and hope when they open a glamorous laundromat.
- DirectorGarth DavisStarsDev PatelNicole KidmanRooney MaraA five-year-old Indian boy is adopted by an Australian couple after getting lost hundreds of kilometers from home. 25 years later, he sets out to find his lost family.
- DirectorMira NairStarsMadina NalwangaDavid OyelowoLupita Nyong'oA Ugandan girl sees her world rapidly change after being introduced to the game of chess.
- DirectorKirk JonesStarsNia VardalosJohn CorbettMichael ConstantineA Portokalos family secret brings the beloved characters back together for an even bigger and Greeker wedding.
- DirectorDarko LungulovStarsDavid ThorntonMirjana KaranovicCyndi LauperIn two interconnected stories, jaded middle-aged New Yorker Robert goes to Serbia to make quick cash by marrying someone for U.S. immigration papers. The plan goes awry when the promised cash never arrives. At the same time, young Serbian immigrant Branko struggles in a never-forgiving New York, desperately trying to bring his girlfriend from Serbia to the USA.
- DirectorLee UnkrichAdrian MolinaStarsAnthony GonzalezGael García BernalBenjamin BrattAspiring musician Miguel, confronted with his family's ancestral ban on music, enters the Land of the Dead to find his great-great-grandfather, a legendary singer.
- CreatorDan SeftonStarsAmanda RedmanDarshan JariwalaNimmi HarasgamaDoctor Ruby Walker arrives in India looking for a job and a distraction from her heartbreak. She anticipates the sunshine and picture-perfect beaches, but not the realities of work at an under-resourced hospital.
- DirectorIsabel CoixetStarsPatricia ClarksonBen KingsleyGrace GummerAs her marriage dissolves, a Manhattan writer takes driving lessons from a Sikh instructor with his own marriage troubles. In each other's company they find the courage to get back on the road and the strength to take the wheel.
- DirectorMichael ShowalterStarsKumail NanjianiZoe KazanHolly HunterPakistan-born comedian Kumail Nanjiani and grad student Emily Gardner fall in love but struggle as their cultures clash. When Emily contracts a mysterious illness, Kumail finds himself forced to face her feisty parents, his family's expectations, and his true feelings.
- DirectorSarah SpillaneStarsHunter Page-LochardChristina RicciAaron L. McGrathAn Aboriginal boy is torn between his unexpected love of acting and the disintegration of his family.
- DirectorBarry JenkinsStarsMahershala AliNaomie HarrisTrevante RhodesA young African-American man grapples with his identity and sexuality while experiencing the everyday struggles of childhood, adolescence, and burgeoning adulthood.
- DirectorDonald PetrieStarsEmma RobertsHayden ChristensenDanny AielloA young couple must navigate a blossoming romance, amidst a war between their families' competing pizza restaurants.
- DirectorRyan CooglerStarsChadwick BosemanMichael B. JordanLupita Nyong'oT'Challa, heir to the hidden but advanced kingdom of Wakanda, must step forward to lead his people into a new future and must confront a challenger from his country's past.
- DirectorDiego LunaStarsMichael PeñaAmerica FerreraRosario DawsonA biography of the civil-rights activist and labor organizer Cesar Chavez.
- DirectorBarry JenkinsStarsKiKi LayneStephan JamesRegina KingA young woman embraces her pregnancy while she and her family set out to prove her childhood friend and lover innocent of a crime he didn't commit.
- DirectorPeter FarrellyStarsViggo MortensenMahershala AliLinda CardelliniA working-class Italian-American bouncer becomes the driver for an African-American classical pianist on a tour of venues through the 1960s American South.
- DirectorJon M. ChuStarsConstance WuHenry GoldingMichelle YeohThis contemporary romantic comedy based on a global bestseller follows native New Yorker Rachel Chu to Singapore to meet her boyfriend's family.
- DirectorGurinder ChadhaStarsBilly BarrattRonak Singh Chadha BergesViveik KalraIn England in 1987, a teenager from an Asian family learns to live his life, understand his family and find his own voice through the music of American rock star Bruce Springsteen.
- DirectorGeorge C. WolfeStarsS. Epatha MerkersonMarcus Carl FranklinYasiin BeyIn a story fueled by rhythm and blues, a young boy's life is shaped by love and the stories of a cast of characters in the boarding house where he lives in 1960s Lackawanna, New York.
- DirectorHerbert J. BibermanStarsJuan ChacónRosaura RevueltasWill GeerMexican workers at a zinc mine call a general strike. It is only through the solidarity of the workers, and importantly the indomitable resolve of their wives, mothers, and daughters, that they eventually triumph.
- DirectorGeorge Tillman Jr.StarsAmandla StenbergRegina HallRussell HornsbyStarr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Now, facing pressure from all sides of the community, Starr must find her voice and stand up for what's right.
- DirectorAnthony LuceroStarsDiana Elizabeth TorresYutaka TakeuchiRodrigo Duarte ClarkAn immigrant single mother disenfranchised by her regular life decides to take a chance working at a Japanese restaurant and realises her dreams to become a sushi chef to provide a better future to her family.
- DirectorJasmine DellalStarsMaharajaEsma RedzepovaTaraf de HaidouksA brief look into Romani culture and Rom (Gypsies) from around the globe as five famous Romani groups tour the USA. The film visits their families at home in Spain, India, Macedonia and Romania.
- DirectorAmanda LipitzStarsGari McIntyreAmanda LeonardBlessin GiraldoSTEP documents the senior year of a girls' high-school step dance team against the background of inner-city Baltimore.
- DirectorLee Isaac ChungStarsSteven YeunHan YeriAlan KimA Korean American family moves to an Arkansas farm in search of its own American dream. Amidst the challenges of new life in the strange and rugged Ozarks, they discover the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.
- DirectorChris FogginStarsJames PurefoyMeadow NobregaDavid HaymanTen fisherman from Cornwall are signed by Universal Records and achieve a top ten hit with their debut album, "Sea Shanties."
- DirectorJon SenStarsRadhika AggarwalLalita AhmedJoanna BaconA modern reworking of King Lear, where a businessman lies in a coma while 2 of his daughters plan to turn off his life support machine and sell his business. His third daughter has his best interests at heart but is estranged from the family.