Documentarian Sarah McCarthy (The Sound of Mumbai: A Musical) returns to the Festival with this extraordinary portrait of a Wisconsin family’s struggle to bond with a trio of Russian orphans — the last such case to predate Russia’s recent controversial ban on adoptions by Americans.

Eleven year old Masha Kulabokhova is about to be adopted into fourteen year old Cami Diaz's family. Masha grew up in a Russian orphanage; Cami was born and raised in Wisconsin and has been the exclusive focus of her parents' love her whole life. The process of Masha becoming part of the Diaz family is going to change both girls forever. THE DARK MATTER OF LOVE follows Masha as she leaves Russia to the spend her first year as part of the Diaz family, who have also adopted five year old twin boys Marcel and Vadim. When the reality of bonding with children who have grown up in institutions turns out to be more difficult than they ever imagined, the Diaz's hire two of the world's best developmental psychologists to help them build their new family - through science. Professor Emeritus at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, Dr Robert Marvin, has spent a lifetime developing a world-renowned therapy program.