Top 250 Movies Like Phoenix Rising

When the laws don’t protect you, change them.

A list of the best movies similar to Phoenix Rising. If you liked Phoenix Rising then you may also like: Zandy's Bride, Zombie Farm, Unforgivable, Untouchable, Nil by Mouth and many more great movies featured on this list.

TV show

Actress and activist Evan Rachel Wood takes her experience as a survivor of domestic violence and pursues justice, heals generational wounds, and reclaims her story. Almost a decade after escaping a dangerous relationship, Wood co-authors and successfully lobbies for passage of The Phoenix Act, legislation that extends the statute of limitations for domestic violence cases in California.

Zandy's Bride

Zandy Allan purchases a mail-order bride, Hannah Lund. He treats her as a possession, without respect or humanity, until their shared ordeal as they struggle to survive develops in him a growing love.

Zombie Farm

A small town in the South is terrorized when Zombies and Voodoo collide.

Unforgivable

Paul Hegstrom is a so-called family man who puts his wife through domestic violence and his children through emotional torture. After leaving his family and almost killing his new girlfriend in one of his rages, Paul is ordered to either seek professional help through an innovative therapy program or go to jail.

Untouchable

The inside story of the rise and fall of Harvey Weinstein reveals how, over decades, he acquired and protected his power even when scandal threatened to engulf him. Former colleagues and accusers detail the method and consequences of his alleged abuse, hoping for justice and also to inspire change.

Nil by Mouth

The family of Raymond, his wife Val and her brother Billy live in working-class London district. Also in their family is Val and Billy's mother Janet and grandmother Kath. Billy is a drug addict and Raymond kicks him out of the house, making him live on his own. Raymond is generally a rough and even violent person, and that leads to problems in the life of the family.

No One Would Tell

Shy sixteen-year-old Stacy Collins can't believe that the most popular guy in school, an attractive athlete named Bobby Tennison, is interested in her. At first she is flattered by his constant attention, but then he becomes possessive and jealous-telling her who she can speak to and what she can wear. Threats escalate into violence when Bobby thinks Stacy has stepped out of line. Soon she is walking on egg shells and living in fear. Having seen the tell-tale bruises, Stacy's best friend convinces her to break things off with Bobby-but in a moment of weakness, Stacy goes to meet him. It will be the last time she is seen alive.

One Minute to Nine

One Minute to Nine (also known as "Every F---ing Day of My Life") chronicles Wendy Maldonado's last five days of freedom before she and her son were sentenced for the manslaughter of her husband, and the years of domestic abuse the family experienced prior to his death.

Radio Flyer

A father reminisces about his childhood when he and his younger brother moved to a new town with their mother, her new husband and their dog, Shane. When the younger brother is subjected to physical abuse at the hands of their brutal stepfather, Mike decides to convert their toy trolley, the "Radio Flyer", into a plane to fly him to safety.

Julie

A terrified stewardess is stalked by her psychotic estranged husband.

The Afflicted

A story of incomprehensible abuse delivered by an explosively violent mother of four. Journey through the mind of a child that experiences a living hell, defined and defended by the twisted religious beliefs of her mother (imdb.com)

Affliction

A small town policeman must investigate a suspicious hunting accident. The investigation and other events result in him slowly disintegrating mentally.

Baby Boy

The story of Jody, a misguided, 20-year-old African-American who is really just a baby boy finally forced-kicking and screaming to face the commitments of real life. Streetwise and jobless, he has not only fathered two children by two different women-Yvette and Peanut but still lives with his own mother. He can't seem to strike a balance or find direction in his chaotic life.

Blonde

From her volatile childhood as Norma Jeane, through her rise to stardom and romantic entanglements, this reimagined fictional portrait of Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe blurs the lines of fact and fiction to explore the widening split between her public and private selves.

Broken

A waitress confronts all the wrong turns she has made in her short life and ultimately ends up facing the biggest wrong turn of all: her dangerous ex-boyfriend who's determined to win back her love or die trying.

The Burning Bed

An abused battered wife has had enough of husband beating up on her. Everywhere she turns for help, there's not much anyone will do. After he rapes her one night, she sets the bed on fire with him in it asleep.

Run for Your Life

A journalist must make a decision to flee with her two children from her abusive ex-husband or kill him before he kills her.

Reviving Ophelia

No one listens when a teenager suspects that her cousin is in an abusive relationship.

You Belong to Me

After a messy divorce, Alex Wilson (Shannon Elizabeth) isn't interested in the advances of her colleague, Michael (Christian Campbell). But when Michael's interest takes a morbid turn and someone ends up dead, Alex becomes trapped in a supernatural struggle to save her son from a scorned (and deceased) suitor.

Lies of the Heart: The Story of Laurie Kellogg

A young mother is accused of convincing four teenagers to murder her husband, who she claims abused her during their ten-year relationship.

The Secrets of Comfort House

A multiple murder investigation in a small hunting town focuses on one suspect, Wendy Sinclair, who operates a battered women's shelter where each of the victims' wives have sought shelter.

Blue-Eyed Butcher

A woman appeared to have a fairy-tale life, but six years into her marriage, the fairytale crumbles when her husband is found buried in the backyard of their home with numerous stab wounds.

The Pastor's Wife

Based on the true story of Matthew Winkler, a beloved minister who, in 2006, was found shot and killed in his Selmer, Tennessee home, his wife and young daughters missing. Authorities soon zeroed in on Matthew's wife, Mary, as the prime suspect in the murder. After her capture, the residents of Selmer were left to wonder what would drive Mary to shoot her husband in the back as he slept. They would get their answers during her trial, when what went on behind the closed doors of this seemingly perfect family was revealed for all to see.

The Salton Sea

After the murder of his beloved wife, a man in search of redemption is set adrift in a world where nothing is as it seems. On his journey, he befriends slacker Jimmy "The Finn", becomes involved in rescuing his neighbor Colette from her own demons, and gets entangled in a web of deceit full of unexpected twists and turns.

Lovelace

Story of Linda Lovelace, who is used and abused by the porn industry at the behest of her coercive husband, before taking control of her life.

Serenity

The quiet life of Baker Dill, a fishing boat captain who lives on the isolated Plymouth Island, where he spends his days obsessed with capturing an elusive tuna while fighting his personal demons, is interrupted when someone from his past comes to him searching for help.

Cries Unheard: The Donna Yaklich Story

Donna Yaklich meets Dennis the policeman and thinks she might have found a good relationship. But Dennis is obsessed with weight-lifting and uses steroids, which make him aggressive and abusive. Getting out of the relationship isn't easy as Dennis isn't willing to let her go, and Donna's options are narrowed down to one remaining alternative.

The Invisible Man

When Cecilia's abusive ex takes his own life and leaves her his fortune, she suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of coincidences turn lethal, Cecilia works to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see.

The Rainmaker

When Rudy Baylor, a young attorney with no clients, goes to work for a seedy ambulance chaser, he wants to help the parents of a terminally ill boy in their suit against an insurance company. But to take on corporate America, Rudy and a scrappy paralegal must open their own law firm.

Sleeping with the Enemy

A young woman fakes her own death in an attempt to escape her nightmarish marriage, but discovers it is impossible to elude her controlling husband.

I, Tonya

Competitive ice skater Tonya Harding rises amongst the ranks at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, but her future in the sport is thrown into doubt when her ex-husband intervenes.

Diary of a Mad Housewife

Tina Balser is a bored New York housewife-mother married to Jonathan, a pompous, social-climbing lawyer who ridicules her in front of their children, criticizing everything she does or wears. She begins an affair with George Prager, a dashing, successful, and blatantly sadistic writer.

Distant Voices, Still Lives

The second film in Terence Davies's autobiographical series (along with "Trilogy" and "The Long Day Closes") is an impressionistic view of a working-class family in 1940s and 1950s Liverpool, based on Davies's own family. Through a series of exquisite tableaux Davies creates a deeply affecting photo album of a troubled family wrestling with the complexity of love.

Firstborn

Because he's the oldest, Jake has been the man of the house, since his parents divorce. When Mom starts seeing Sam, who always seems to be trying some new way to get rich quick, and declares he's the man of the house now, Jake puts up with it. Until he discovers Sam's illegal activities.

The Red Pill

When a feminist filmmaker sets out to document the mysterious and polarizing world of the Men’s Rights Movement, she begins to question her own beliefs. Chronicling Cassie Jaye’s journey exploring an alternate perspective on gender equality, power and privilege.

The Toy Soldiers

On one evening in a decade of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, the innocence of youth and family unravels. Five parallel coming-of-age stories dramatize the stages of grief. A youthful mother in a custody battle over her children, finds tranquility with the bottle. The abuse of her ex-husband still haunts the children; a nineteen year old drug addict, and his younger brother, a bullied closet homosexual.There's the story of the dog; a teen who offers sexual favors to gain acceptance, the challenged classmate who would do anything for her love, and the redhead beauty, haunted by a secret, tragic past. These lives and others will change forever on this final evening before their hangout, The Toy Soldiers Roller Rink, closes its doors for the final time.

If Someone Had Known

A young wife and mother is abused by her husband and keeps the secret from her friends and family.

Independence Day

Mary Ann Taylor loves the comforts of her hometown in Mercury, Texas. She has a steady job as a waitress in her father's diner, yet she can't help but feel unfulfilled by a life of pouring coffee and grilling hamburgers. Mary Ann's real passion is photography, but pursuing her dream of becoming a photographer means leaving Mercury behind.

The Merry Gentleman

A woman who leaves an abusive relationship to begin a new life in a new city, where she forms an unlikely and ironic relationship with a suicidal hit man (unbeknownst to her). Enter a worn, alcoholic detective to form the third party in a very unusual triangle as this story begins to unfold.

Petulia

An unhappily married socialite finds solace in the company of a recently divorced doctor.

Seeing Allred

Gloria Allred overcame trauma and personal setbacks to become one of the nation’s most famous women’s rights attorneys. Now the feminist firebrand takes on two of the biggest adversaries of her career, Bill Cosby and Donald Trump, as sexual violence allegations grip the nation and keep her in the spotlight.

'Til Death Do Us Part

Michael and Madison Roland planned to spend the rest of their lives together, but Michael's controlling ways turn their perfect marriage into an abusive roller-coaster ride that no woman could survive. With the help of her best friend, Madison fakes her death to escape and start a new life — but soon realizes it's impossible to outwit her obsessive husband.

Death Saved My Life

On the surface it seems Jade has it all, including a successful marketing career, a heart surgeon husband who is admired and respected in the community, and a young daughter they both dote on. However, behind closed doors, her life is far from perfect.

Sparkle

Musical prodigy, Sparkle struggles to become a star while overcoming issues that are tearing her family apart. From an affluent Detroit area and daughter to a single mother, she tries to balance a new romance with music manager Stix while dealing with the unexpected challenges her new life will bring as she and her two sisters strive to become a dynamic singing group during the Motown-era.

Life Support

The true-life story of a mother who overcame an addiction to crack and became a positive role model and an AIDS activist in the black community.

To Sleep with Anger

An enigmatic drifter from the South comes to visit an old acquaintance who now lives in South-Central LA.

Twist

In a gritty retelling of the Dickens's classic, Twist takes Oliver and the Artful Dodger out of the poorhouse and onto the streets, where junk is the currency and hustling is the game.

Sinderella and the Golden Bra

Prince David is having trouble finding a bride amongst the maidens of the village, so his father decides to hold a masked ball. Sinderella, an adopted French orphan, puts up with abuse from her stepmother and two stepsisters, and is not allowed to go to the ball. She is despondent until her inebriated fairy godfather appears and fixes her up real pretty and sends her on to the ball, with the admontion that she must return by midnight. Sinderella and the Prince get along famously, but the time flies and she leaves in a hurry, dropping her gilded support in her haste. The Prince mounts a desperate search for his loved one, requiring all the maidens of the village to try on the forgotten garment.

What Happened, Miss Simone?

The film chronicles Nina Simone's journey from child piano prodigy to iconic musician and passionate activist, told in her own words.

Take Two

Is God really the giver of second chances? Can He take a worthless, selfish, self-serving and self-centered, drug addicted broken down life and restore it with forgiveness, mercy and love? Is he able to guide and direct someone facing hopelessly seeming impossible circumstances, and lead them through to amazing grace? TAKE TWO is the True Story about a decadent Hollywood film producer who bottoms out in Los Angeles California and loses everything. Frustrated that he continues to wake up every morning to his same failed life he decides to leave L.A. to seek a new life, only to quickly realize he has taken himself with him. In the beginning of his trek he meets a beautiful young woman in a small bar in Wyoming. Unaware that she is already married and has children, they have a one-night affair that leads to the birth of a baby girl.

American Woman

A young grandmother in a small Pennsylvania town raises her daughter's child after the girl disappears. All the while, a desperate search for her continues.

Boy Wonder

A young Brooklyn boy witnesses the brutal murder of his mother and grows up obsessed with finding her killer. Thus begins his life as a quiet, straight-A student by day and a self-appointed hero at night. But what is a real hero? And who decides what is right or wrong? As the boundaries blur, Sean's dual life wears on his psyche and his two worlds careen dangerously close to colliding. Like a graphic novel you can't put down, Boy Wonder challenges morality, distorting perceptions of what is right and what is justified, as it races to its shocking conclusion.

Manhattan Chase

After six years as a guest of the state, mob hit man Jason Reed wants nothing more than to get an honest job and spend time with his young son, Tommy. He is not ten steps outside of the prison before being greeted by Keither, an old crony anxious to pick up where they left off. While out for a drive with his son, Jason saves a young woman from a gun wielding thug, not realizing that he has just managed to ruin Keith's plans to recover some stolen heroin. While fending off various retaliatory attacks from his old buddies, Jason must also deal with his ex-wife, a reformed drug addict who has returned from out of nowhere intent on re-uniting with Tommy.

Mother's Red Dress

Laura Ullman, a single mother, kills her abusive ex-boyfriend and turns the gun on her son when he threatens to call the police. Paul leaves home to start a better life and falls for Ashley, a young woman looking for direction in her life, unaware of his past troubles.

A Vigilante

A once-abused woman devotes herself to ridding victims of their domestic abusers while hunting down the one she must kill to be truly free.

Boulevard

A street prostitute takes in an abused young woman on the run from her misogynist boyfriend, leading to both facing off against the prostitute's dreaded pimp and a relentless police detective out to arrest all of them.

The Boost

Lenny Brown moves to California to find his fortune in tax shelter investments. When the federal government changes the tax laws, poor Lenny finds himself $700,000 in hock with nowhere to turn. His friend, Joel, introduces him to cocaine to give Lenny that needed "boost". What ensues next is a descent into drug addiction and insanity as Lenny tries to regain control of his life, all the while needing that extra "boost".

The Free World

Following his release from a brutal stretch in prison for crimes he didn't commit, Mo is struggling to adapt to life on the outside. When his world collides with Doris, a mysterious woman with a violent past, he decides to risk his newfound freedom to keep her in his life.

The Full Treatment

Race car driver Alan Colby and his new wife Denise are involved in a car crash where he sustains a serious head injury, causing him to have murderous feelings toward Denise. After Denise persuades him to honeymoon with her on the Cote D'Azur in France, they enlist the aid of a French psychiatrist who offers to regress Alan back to the time of the accident and cure him.

Paris Trout

Paris Trout is a vile Southern bigot. He owns a store and is a loanshark. He often sues people, and so his lawyer, Harry Seagraves, eventually meets Paris' wife Hannah. A former schoolteacher, she made the mistake of her life when she married Paris, who brutalizes her. Soon Paris goes beyond the overgenerous bounds of what a man in his position can get away with even in the segregated South, leading to a spiral of perverse insanity.

The Brute

Glamour model Diane Shepherd is routinely being beaten by her husband Tim, who accuses her of infidelity. When she can't take it anymore, she finds shelter with photographer Mark and his girlfriend Carrie. They introduce Diane to Millie, who is in a similar situation. Meanwhile, Tim informs Diane that if she doesn't come back to him, he will see to it that he gains custody of their son, Timmy.

Something for the Birds

A conservationist fights to save the habitat of the California condor and to do it she works her way into the affections of a representative of the oil company that wants the land for their own purposes.

Dying to Divorce

As rates of femicide and domestic abuse soar in Turkey and democratic rights for women are increasingly eroded, a lawyer and her clients bravely risk everything for their freedom by standing up to the government and putting violent men behind bars.

Circle of Violence: A Family Drama

Georgia Benfield, at her wit's end, loses control and begins physically abusing her elderly mother, just as Georgia had been abused herself as a child. As family and friends slowly begin to learn of the abuse, and long-buried family secrets come to light, both mother and daughter must learn to accept the past, to change what is happening at present in order to face a better future.

Murder: By Reason of Insanity

A married couple from Poland emigrates to the U.S.,. but things don't turn out as well as they had imaged. The husband's business fails, while his wife's career really takes off. The husband, unable to cope with the pressures of his failed business, his failing marriage and the adjustments necessary to live in a completely different society, begins to take out his frustrations on his wife.

Deadly Intentions

Katherine married Dr. Charles Raynor. She later discovers that Raynor is a sadist who torments her physically and mentally. She divorces him and take their child away. He then decides to kill her but when his plot is discovered he is charged with attempted murder and brought to trial.

A Life Interrupted

After Debbie Smith was raped, she didn't take the law into her own hands. She wrote the law... Based on a true story. In 1989, Debbie Smith was living a quiet life as a housewife with her police officer husband, Rob and their two kids, but one day it's all shattered. While her husband slept upstairs, Debbie was dragged from her kitchen in broad daylight and brutally raped in the woods. After going through the dehumanizing rape-kit, she waited with fear and paranoia. Six years later, her rapist was caught through a chance DNA test. After learning how many rape-kits go untested and how long women wait to get justice, Debbie makes it her mission so no more women will suffer the long wait to get justice.

Men Don't Tell

This movie shows another side to spousal abuse that not too many people thought is possible--the husband being abused and the wife the abuser.

The Promise

Lisa's husband, Bill, abuses her. With her sister's encouragement, she takes their three kids and leaves her husband. Bill keeps interfering with Lisa's attempts at a new life. She gets an order of protection against him, but the police can't do anything else to help her. One night Bill breaks into Lisa's apartment and shoots her. As she dies in the hospital, Lisa asks her sister to promise to take care of her three children. The sister takes the kids into her home, but Bill is still on the loose, an ever present threat.

Goblin

A young woman fights to protect her son from her abusive new husband and a ferocious creature lurking in the shadows.

Platoon Leader

West Point graduate lieutenant Jeff Knight meets cynicism when taking command of sergeant Michael McNamara's tour veterans platoon in a Vietnamese trench camp. Unlike his predecessor, who hid till the end of his tour, Jeff takes charge, experiences the manual doesn't allow coping with all realities and gets wounded. He returns, now fully respect by men and superiors. Besides the Vietcong, the platoon wrestles with the inscrutable villagers, which the G.I.'s officially protect, but also fear as some collaborate with them, other covertly with the Cong, either way subject to bloody reprisals.

Rooming With Danger

Fresh off a bad break-up, a young professional moves in with the seemingly perfect roommate but finds herself the object of a deadly obsession.

Life Is Not a Fairytale: The Fantasia Barrino Story

In the Lifetime® movie, THE FANTASIA BARRINO STORY: LIFE IS NOT A FAIRYTALE, a single teenage mother overcomes all odds - sexual abuse, poverty and illiteracy - by relying on her spectacular singing voice. She ultimately gains national prominence as the winner of a hit talent show. Fantasia Barrino plays herself in this modern true Cinderella story. Also starring Loretta Devine, Kadeem Hardison and Viola Davis.

Care

A man struggles to piece together his life after suffering years of abuse in a children's home - a personal battle made doubly difficult by crusading reporters determined to expose the scandal.

Prison Stories: Women on the Inside

Three novels - three dramatic stories in the walls of the women's prison. The first story - a brand new, first went to prison inmates. The second - about a mother whose son has ceased to go to prison for visits. The third - about the experiences of women on the eve of its release.

Dangerous Child

A divorced mother faces the bitter irony of being suspected of child abuse when in fact her own teen son is taking verbal and physical swipes at her.

Black and Blue

After a woman's husband beats and abuses her, she and her son join the witness protection program and move away secretly.

Heroes of Dirt

Passionate BMX dirt jumper, Phin Cooper, wants nothing in life but to attain fame in his sport. After missing a competition when he lands in jail for unpaid citations, he is court-ordered for community service and reluctantly mentors one of the toughest boys, Blue Espinosa. As Phin leads the troubled teen on exciting adventures of riding dirt trails, big jumps and cityscapes, Blue becomes more than an obligation - an unlikely friend whose secret world of drug trafficking threatens Phin's ultimate dream. Featuring some of the best stunts in dirt jumping by legendary pros and hardcore locals, Heroes of Dirt is more than adrenaline rush. It embarks on an unforgettable journey into real significance, and the price it takes to get there.

A Man's Fight

An impertinent son of a wealthy New Yorker, Roger Carr takes the blame for the murder of Norman Evans, whom Roger believes his sister Ethel shot when Evans assaulted her.

Bitter Melon

Bitter Melon is a "home for the holidays" dark comedy where a Filipino-American family plots to kill an abusive member.

The Abused

Documentary exploring the lives of two victims of domestic abuse, Hazel and Kelly, and the events that unfolded as they reported their abuse to the police.

Beaten by My Boyfriend

Stacey Dooley goes behind closed doors and speaks to the now younger face of domestic violence. She questions victims and abusers to try and understand how deep the issues surrounding domestic abuse are for those who have survived and those currently experiencing the abuse.

Women on Trial

"Women On Trail" exposes the innate corruption and sexism in the family court system as children are removed from their mothers and given to fathers who often either don't want them or have been convicted of domestic violence.

Fair Play

An unexpected promotion at a cutthroat hedge fund pushes a young couple's relationship to the brink, threatening to unravel not only their recent engagement but their lives.

Moon Garden

A comatose five-year-old girl journeys through a dark industrial dreamscape, following her mother's voice on a transistor radio to find her way back to consciousness.

Murdered By My Boyfriend

Drama telling the true story of what happens to a teenage girl when she falls in love with the wrong man. The everyday story of young love turns dark and sinister when the handsome and charming stranger seeks to dominate every aspect of the young woman's life. A tale of contemporary Britain that every young person should watch.

I Was Lorena Bobbitt

Meet the once-battered woman who overcame years of abuse and a sensational televised trial to become an advocate for victims of domestic violence everywhere.

Battered

Gritty drama of three interweaving stories of three women of various backgrounds and ages whose marriages are complicated by spouse-abuse by their husbands.

Black Zoo

Michael Conrad, owner of a group of strange animals, trains his beasts to obey him, unleashing them on anyone who stands in his way. His wife and mute assistant begin to suspect that they too are becoming part of the black zoo.

The Right Mom

While writing an article about an abused boy, a woman fights for protect him after she uncovers shocking details.

No Surrender

Amelia's blog empowering women not to tolerate violent relationships has brought her fame, fortune and now someone is out to kill her. Is it the new man in her life, her now paroled ex who inspired the blog, or a deranged fan? Just as she has put the pieces of her life back together, Amelia must figure out who is behind the bizarre string of attacks and stop them before her own life comes to an ironic and violent end.

Casualties

A woman tormented by an abusive, sadistic husband desperately tries to find her way out of her predicament. She discovers that she may have found the solution in her cooking class, she finds out that one of the men in her class is even more of a sadistic psycho than her husband, and she hatches a plan to get him to kill her husband.

The Book of Ruth

The tensions that arise when a newlywed has her new husband move into the home of her oppressive mother.

Fists of Love

A cynical NYPD domestic violence officer ends up falling in love with a woman running away from her obsessive and abusive husband.

Typo

Abbie is an aspiring writer who finds that her marriage is not the dream she expected after her husband starts abusing her. As her life starts to spiral out of control, she needs to find a way out... but her plans have consequences that she couldn't have imagined.

Blink

The calmest seas are the most turbulent underneath. So is the case in Blink, a story of domestic abuse and human brokeness. Nailah Belle is the epitome of beauty and strength. She is known to be committed to her classroom, community, and marriage. Her husband Chris appears to be the perfect accessory to accompany what reveals to be her perfect lifestyle, however; all is not what it seems to be, as this riveting story unfolds; in just one Blink.

The Evil Twin

A woman escapes from an abusive relationship by moving back to her hometown, only to discover she has a long-lost twin sister who may be a murderer.

Hunting Lands

Reclusive veteran Frank Olsen yearns to escape from the complexities of the modern world. Unfortunately, despite his efforts, the world comes looking for him.

Untold: Deal with the Devil

Christy Martin broke boundaries and noses as she rose in the boxing world, but her public persona belied personal demons, abuse and a threat on her life.

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