Focus Features recently released a heart-wrenching scene, titled “Say Bye,” from writer-director A.V. Rockwell’s A THOUSAND AND ONE, which stars Teyana Taylor, Will Catlett, Josiah Cross, Aven Courtney, and Aaron Kingsley Adetola. 

A THOUSAND AND ONE focuses on “unapologetic and free-spirited Inez (Taylor), who kidnaps her six-year-old son Terry from the foster care system. Holding onto their secret and each other, mother and son set out to reclaim their sense of home, identity, and stability, in a rapidly changing New York City.” Adetola and Cross play Terry at age 6 and 17, respectively. The film has been dubbed “a love letter to mothers, sons, and hustlers of NYC” and it opens in theaters on March 31. 

“Why you keep leaving me” is the final line of the “Say Bye” scene in which Inez attempts to explain to her young son Terry that they will be separated again for some time. She doesn’t know how long they’ll be apart or where he’ll be fostered this time, but she offers him her beeper number so she can, hopefully, find him again. The scene that is under two-minutes long perfectly captures the tension any mother would feel being forced to leave her child because of circumstances beyond her control, and the disappointment she’d feel from the child. 

A THOUSAND AND ONE is Rockwell’s feature film debut. It won the US Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic at the Sundance Film Festival. In addition to addressing the foster care system, A Thousand and One also deals with themes of family, love, and gentrification, all with NYC as its backdrop.

See more from A THOUSAND AND ONE in the gallery below.

Stills from ‘A THOUSAND AND ONE’