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Only 26 years old, Shpresa is raising five children in the impoverished countryside of Kosovo. Uneducated and isolated, she and her husband don’t quite understand the extent of their Down Syndrome baby son’s health problems, but know the situation is serious. So when ASVI, an Italian medical charity, examines the child and arranges life-saving heart surgery for him in Milan, Shpresa rejoices. Case worker Marinella quickly settles mother and son in an apartment where they’ll stay just long enough to recover from the operation before returning home. But in the days leading up to the surgery, a series of phone calls to her husband transforms the once attentive mother into a distracted woman no longer interested in the charity’s care. Nimble cameras capture Shpresa’s quicksilver moods and Marinella’s perplexed reactions to a situation neither woman ever anticipated. Heart-Quake reveals a surprising side to charity. Myrocia Watamaniuk

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