Georgia is a Greek-language narrative short film based on my true story and on the final goodbye between my mother, Georgia Korakis, and the son she was not allowed to keep.

I was born in Athens in 1963 to a young, unmarried Greek mother. Within days of my birth, she was required to sign me over, and I became a ward of the state. I was unnamed for 499 days, classified through the language of illegitimacy, and moved through state care until I was adopted by Greek-American parents and taken to the United States.

For most of my life, my mother’s story existed only in fragments: a name, a court record, a few translated documents, and a silence that followed me across an ocean.

Georgia begins where that silence becomes impossible to ignore.

The film centers on an Athens courtroom in 1964. My adoption has already been arranged. The papers are ready. The system is moving forward. Then my mother appears in court and asks for one final thing: to hold her son and say goodbye.

She cannot stop what is happening. She cannot undo the decision. She cannot take me home. But for a few sacred minutes, she is allowed to be seen as what she always was: my mother.

Our current fundraising goal is $275,000. Funds raised will support cast, crew, locations, period design, costumes, camera and lighting, sound, editing, color, music, final mix, subtitles, deliverables, festival submissions, and outreach screenings.

Our festival strategy is focused on strong international exposure, including Academy Award-qualifying festivals. We are also planning premiere events in Athens and Toronto connected to our impact partner, WIN Hellas, an organization supporting women affected by violence and abuse. When you support Georgia, you are not only helping fund a short film. You are helping restore a name, honor a mother, and bring a hidden Greek story into the light.

For sixty years, this courtroom moment lived only in a file. Now we have the chance to make it visible.

James Photi Axiotis is a Greek-born, American-raised producer, writer, and director with more than 40 years of production experience. He has worked across television, film, commercials, documentary, and live event production, served two terms on the National Board of the Producers Guild of America, and is a member of the Television Academy and the BAFTA Academy Circle.