Written and directed by husband and wife team Rodrigo Plá and Laura Santullo,
The Other Tom stars Julia Chavez as Elena, a single
mother struggling to raise her son Tom (Israel Rodríguez Bertorelli), who suffers from behavioural issues. When Tom's school prescribes
psychiatric drugs to treat his condition, Elena finds herself in a battle
with social services.
The Other Tom plays in New York from October 14th. A UK/ROI
release has yet to be announced.
Check out the trailer and poster below.
The official synopsis reads:
Elena is a single mother in El Paso, Texas who relies on Social Services. Her son Tom has behavioral issues and is stigmatized at school as a “problem child.” An absent father further complicates their difficult relationship. Tom is diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and prescribed psychiatric medication, but a strange accident alerts his mother as to its side effects. When Elena refuses to continue administering the drugs to Tom, Social Services threaten to remove him from her custody.
Stubborn, disruptive, unpredictable, unfocused, angry, nine-year-old Tom is, to say the least, not a good fit in the regulated environment of a public classroom in El Paso, Texas. And his demands weigh heavily on his mother Elena, a single parent juggling jobs and social service assistance, while trying to maintain some sort of life of her own. Elena is initially cooperative when the boy is diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and given a set of medications to counteract his “inappropriate” behaviour. When Tom becomes a depressed shell of his former self, with a frightening potential for self-injury, Elena makes the fateful decision to throw away his drugs despite the consequences – from the school, and then from children’s protective services who threaten to remove Tom from her care. Even drug-free options approved by the state carry an implicit threat for non-cooperation.
