sundance debuts dark tale of triplets split at birth
Saturday 28 June 2025
Last Updated : GMT 05:17:37
Emiratesvoice, emirates voice

at birth and reunited by pure chance is all too real

Sundance debuts dark tale of triplets split at birth

Emiratesvoice, emirates voice

Emiratesvoice, emirates voice Sundance debuts dark tale of triplets split at birth

Robert "Bobby" Shafran and David Kellman
United States - Emiratesvoice

If it were a conspiracy thriller it would be dismissed as far-fetched, but Tim Wardle's astonishing story of triplets separated at birth and reunited by pure chance is all too real.

His debut feature documentary "Three Identical Strangers," which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday, introduces Bobby Shafran, Eddy Galland and David Kellman, who had no idea they were triplets until the age of 19.

But don't expect "The Parent Trap," for this altogether darker film shows how the trio's joyous reunion set in motion a chain of events that unearthed a conspiracy that went far beyond their own lives.

The amazing saga began in 1980 when Shafran enrolled at Sullivan County Community College, a two-hour drive north of New York, and was told he had a double called Eddy Galland, who had just quit.

Shafran tracked down Galland and, sure enough, they were stunned to find they looked exactly alike, and had the same birthday, interests, voices, mannerisms and even hands.

The chance reunion of twins separated at birth was enough to make the front pages of the local tabloids but the coverage unearthed a far more intriguing story.

Kellman was reading about the newly-acquainted brothers and realized he, too, looked exactly like them, shared their birthday and was also adopted.

The men hit it off immediately, moving in together, transferring to the same degree course in international marketing.

The public lapped up their inspiring story and they became celebrities in the Manhattan club scene, even making cameo appearances in Madonna's first major movie, "Desperately Seeking Susan."

- 'Complete surrealism' -

"The initial meeting was just complete surrealism. These things that were happening were just so unreal that they were almost dreamlike," Shafran told AFP.

"But then once we got together there was a joy that I had never experienced in my life and it lasted a really long time."

They opened a restaurant -- Triplets -- selling Eastern European fare and had a ball in the early days, but eventually tempers began to fray as arguments flared over work responsibilities.

Wardle uses a mix of reenactments and interviews with Shafran and Kellman, now 56, to deliver the first bombshell -- a disillusioned Shafran quitting the business.

Then the story takes a tragic turn as it is revealed that Galland had become increasingly depressed and unstable, eventually taking his own life at the age of 33.

The mystery around their infancy -- why they knew nothing about each other despite growing up within a 100-mile radius -- took another twist as journalist and writer Lawrence Wright made a stunning discovery.

The triplets, it turned out, were among a number of identical siblings split up as part of a dark "nature versus nurture" social experiment which began in 1960 and was led by psychoanalyst Peter Neubauer, head of The Child Development Center.

Neubauer's center merged in 1963 into the Jewish Board of Guardians, which would later merge with what would become the Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services in Manhattan.

Visits by researchers throughout their childhoods were explained away as a "child development study," when in reality Neubauer was scrutinizing the brothers' personalities and relationships with their very diverse adoptive families.

"We really didn't understand just how egregiously these people behaved," said Kellman, who told AFP all six adoptive parents were angered that they too had been kept in the dark.

"As we got older, got married, became parents ourselves, we realized how impactful it was."

- 'Victims, not participants' -

Wardle, who came across the story while scouting for new documentary ideas and has spent five years on the film, describes the story as "one of most extraordinary" he'd ever heard.

"Right from the off they are very characterful, warm people but there was also a degree of mistrust, which I completely understand," he told AFP.

"When you hear the full depth of their story and what has happened to them it's quite understandable that they'd be a bit wary of people."

The Jewish Board finally agreed to give the surviving brothers access to 100,000 pages of heavily-redacted notes on their evaluations after filming was completed.

But these were far from a formal research paper and included no explanation as to what Neubauer was doing and why, or what his researchers had learned.

Kellman went on running the restaurant for another five years but with Shafran out of the picture and Eddy no longer alive, the venture lost its luster.

He went on to work as an insurance consultant while Shafran became an attorney.

No one has ever apologized to Shafran or Kellman, and the Jewish Board declined to take part in the documentary.

"The Jewish Board does not endorse the Neubauer Study," a spokeswoman told AFP.

She said the organization was "committed to providing identified Neubauer study participants access to their records in a timely and transparent manner."

It is not the kind of language that sits easily with the brothers, however.

"They refer to us as participants," says Kellman. "We weren't participants, we were victims."

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

sundance debuts dark tale of triplets split at birth sundance debuts dark tale of triplets split at birth

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

sundance debuts dark tale of triplets split at birth sundance debuts dark tale of triplets split at birth

 



GMT 14:35 2017 Thursday ,23 February

HRH Princess Sabeeka inaugurates BIGS 2017

GMT 12:44 2017 Wednesday ,13 September

Reasons for cancellation of Nawal’s concert

GMT 09:55 2017 Tuesday ,20 June

Zamalek’s footballer denies

GMT 03:43 2018 Tuesday ,23 January

Turkish soldier killed in Syria operation: army

GMT 16:20 2017 Sunday ,05 February

51 ISIS Militants Killed in Northern Syria

GMT 05:53 2013 Tuesday ,17 September

Upcoming film festivals showcase Palestinian creativity

GMT 23:28 2016 Sunday ,05 June

Kenya wakes up to coffee

GMT 19:54 2017 Wednesday ,25 January

US Senate Confirms Trump Nominee Nikki Haley for UN

GMT 18:49 2017 Friday ,05 May

pledge found in car of French military

GMT 18:28 2017 Friday ,24 February

Greek police bust migrant trafficking ring

GMT 11:04 2016 Friday ,16 September

Apple, Samsung struggle in face of Chinese competition

GMT 20:32 2017 Tuesday ,13 June

Nawaz Sharif leaves for Saudi amid Qatar crisis

GMT 09:26 2011 Thursday ,29 December

Saudi women given vote in 2015

GMT 13:58 2016 Wednesday ,06 April

Sharjah book authority participates

GMT 18:29 2016 Thursday ,13 October

5 suicides arrested in Karachi

GMT 17:14 2012 Monday ,25 June

A psychedelic start to the summer

GMT 22:15 2016 Thursday ,16 June

Jo Cox, a rising star in British politics

GMT 12:44 2012 Wednesday ,01 August

UK-based Al Ghad TV to launch soon

GMT 16:32 2012 Thursday ,16 August

EXPO 2012 Yeosu Korea

GMT 04:09 2013 Saturday ,14 September

Thank you, Bassem Youssef and Nadim Koteich
Emiratesvoice, emirates voice
 
 Emirates Voice Facebook,emirates voice facebook  Emirates Voice Twitter,emirates voice twitter Emirates Voice Rss,emirates voice rss  Emirates Voice Youtube,emirates voice youtube  Emirates Voice Youtube,emirates voice youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2025 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2025 ©

emiratesvoieen emiratesvoiceen emiratesvoiceen emiratesvoiceen
emiratesvoice emiratesvoice emiratesvoice
emiratesvoice
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
emiratesvoice, Emiratesvoice, Emiratesvoice