Twin Sisters

Premiered October 20, 2014

Directed by

Mona Friis Bertheussen

EXPLORE THE FILM

About the Documentary

Twin Sisters tells the moving true story of Mia and Alexandra, twin Chinese infants found in a cardboard box and taken to an orphanage in 2003. Two sets of hopeful parents — from Norway, and Sacramento, California — arrived in China to claim the babies but by a twist of fate, the adopting parents also met each other. Noticing how much the girls looked alike, they wondered if their new daughters might be connected.

The new mothers exchanged contact information and a year later did a DNA test confirming the girls were indeed twins, but by then they’d already become truly a part of their new families. In the U.S., Mia is raised a typical, all-American girl, with a bustling life filled with violin lessons, Girl Scouts, and soccer, while Alexandra grows up in the quietude of the breathtakingly beautiful but isolated village of Fresvik, Norway.

As soon as the girls are old enough to understand, their families tell them about their twin on the other side of the world and they begin to communicate despite the distance and language barrier. When finally they meet again in Norway as eight years olds, Mia and Alexandra not only look and act alike, but share an unmistakable bond. As Mia joins Alexandra on an exploration of the beautiful village, the girls interact with the undeniable connection of sisters.

Twin Sisters is the story of our notions of family — the genetic ones we inherit and the ones we create.

The Filmmaker

Mona Friis Bertheussen is an award-winning director and producer. She has won some of the most prestigious awards for documentary films, including the Audience Award at the International Documentary Film Festival, one of the world’s largest festivals for documentaries. She has produced a number of films, including Tampa and Welcome to Norway, which have received international exposure. She has also received the highly-acclaimed "Human Rights Award for Film" from the Norwegian government. Bertheussen started her own production company, Moment Film, in 2003, with one major goal in mind: To make documentaries that people will remember.