I think we’ve all seen The Parent Trap one too many times for our own good. It’s a timeless story: twin girls separated at birth who meet X amount of years later only to discover that they’re identical. But I bet you never thought that this could actually happen in real life.
Well, it can.
Samantha, an actress working in Los Angeles, was shocked when she received a Facebook message from a girl called Anaïs who lived in London. Anaïs’ friends had watched some of Samantha’s YouTube videos and shown them to Anaïs, surprised at how much they looked like each other. The reason Anaïs decided to message Samantha? Because they shared the same birthdays, were both adopted from Korea, and looked too similar for it to be a coincidence.
Once they started talking to each other, they couldn’t stop. After endless Skype convos and text messages, they decided that it was time to meet in person. The only problem was the cost.
So, they appealed to Kickstarter, an online service that allows you to publicize your project and receive funds for it from all over the world. Their project was successful, allowing Samantha — along with her family and a small film crew to document the experience — to fly to London. When the sisters were reunited, they immediately had a connection. They became very close; Samantha and her family took a trip to Los Angeles, and together, Samantha and Anaïs traveled to Seoul, South Korea, to try and dig up their roots. All of this was backed by their Kickstarter campaign and filmed by the crew. They documented every experience in the hopes of turning their story into a film.
The last thing their film Twinsters needed was post-production, which was funded, yet again, thanks to Kickstarter. They hope to be finished in time to submit the film to 2015 film festivals.
All in all, this remarkable experience demonstrates how social media really can cross borders. Because of it, Samantha and Anaïs can share their story, which is truly unique and remarkable, just like them!
Watch the trailer for Twinsters below (and try not to tear up, I dare you).
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