No Shortage of Shorts at REEL Recovery Film Festival

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


 


 

 

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA (April 21, 2014) – San Rafael-based Alcohol Justice and Studio City-based Writers In Treatment are pleased to announce that there will be no shortage of brilliant short films during the first REEL Recovery Film Festival – San Francisco Bay Area Edition - April 24-27, 2014.

"Our recovery short films are potent little vignettes and powerful stories," said Leonard Buschel, founder of Writers In Treatment and the REEL Recovery Film Festival, “I love what Ingmar Bergman said, 'No form of art goes beyond ordinary consciousness as film does, straight to our emotions, deep into the twilight room of our soul.' These films are as powerful as an O'Henry, Singer or Salinger short story."

Thursday April 24, 2014, 8 p.m.The Price of Life (2014) 2 min. You're not alone.

• Serenity Prayer (2014) 4 min. To save his relationship with his son, an alcoholic journeys from addiction to sobriety, inspired by the words of the Serenity Prayer. Dirs. Alex Miranda, Matthew Roth
• Preview/Compilation (2013) 9 min. A look back at REEL Recovery Films from 2013 by Writers In Treatment

Friday April 25, 2014, 4 p.m.

• Challenging Alcohol Marketing to Youth (3 min) - Alcohol is the #1 drug of choice for young people in the USA. Alcohol Justice CHALLENGES global alcohol corporations and their marketing aimed at young people.
• Alcohol Ads + Sports = Bad ROI for Public Health & Safety (13 min) TV sporting events are saturated with beer ads, sponsorship, and celebrity endorsements which are a proven factor in encouraging underage consumption and general misuse of alcohol.
• Free The Bowl® / Free Our Sports® (24 min) This short documentary looks at the creation of the Free The Bowl® and Free Our Sports® youth video contests by Alcohol Justice. Since 2009, over 150 counter beer ads have been produced and entered by young people from across the country. They are protesting the exploitation they feel as targets of alcohol producers who use sports to influence underage drinking.
• Lower Illegal BAC Limit to .05 (4 min) Impaired driving begins with drink #1. Alcohol Justice joined the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in calling for a reduction in the illegal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) per se limit from .08 to .05 or lower in the U.S. to save lives and prevent injuries.

Saturday April 26, 2014, 1:30 p.m.

• Brightwood (2012) 19 min. Drug addicts can just as easily be your “perfect” family next door. Directed by Gabriel Gonda.
• Conversation with Lucifer (2011) 20 min. Recovering addict Darby Quinn goes through the early stages of sobriety. Directed by Cody Boesen.
• Dear Daddy (2013) 8 min.  Follow young Emma Walek and her dog through a journey of love, passion and heartache. Directed by Sandra Capra.
• Hiding Games (2012) 13 min.  A girl learns to cope with her mother’s meth addiction in rural Appalachia. Directed by Michael Wright.
• Sober (2013) 9 min. Marta McGonagle causes a drunk driving crash that paralyzes her sister. She hopes this film will prevent others from making her mistake. Directed by Marta McGonagle.
• Sober Since (2010) 5 min. An alcoholic father struggles to clean up his act after his 13 year-old daughter is molested by a family friend. Directed by Royce Issac.
• Within (2012) 20 min. A self-destructive writer, guided by a guardian angel, discovers the love and strength to survive. Directed by Alex Lane.
• Successful Alcoholics (2010) 26 min. Follows a couple whose "casual drinking" extends to all hours of the day. But unlike most problem drinkers, their professional and personal lives appear to not be harmed by boozing 24/7. Directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts.

Sunday April 27, 2014, 5:20 p.m.

Mad Dance - Mental Health Trilogy:  (85 min) Three poetic and transformative shorts offer new maps for navigating madness with insight, healing and hope.

• Crooked Beauty (34 min) - Artist-activist Jack McNamara's transformative journey from childhood abuse to psych ward inpatient to pioneering mental health advocacy.
• For Shadows (26 min) - A contemplative, multi-layered memoir that unravels the tangled roots of self-harm while coming to terms with one's shadow.
• Light, In! (12 min) - A haunting, visual essay about the awkward and angry junctures where our culture struggles to manage its emotional distress.

Director Ken Paul Rosenthal present for Q & A.


“It’s very exciting to shine the spotlight on these short films,” stated Michael Scippa, Director of Public Affairs for Alcohol Justice. “There is nothing little about the way they portray extremely sensitive subjects with filmmaking that is truly enlightened.”

The goal of the REEL Recovery Film Festival is to highlight the disease as well as the hope and opportunity for recovery. For more information about the festival, purchase tickets, and view a PSA featuring Michael Pritchard go to: FilmFestSFBay.org

“The ticket price for most of the sessions is just $5,” added Scippa, “But if there are seats available we’ll allow anyone admittance regardless of their ability to pay.” Tickets are available exclusively through BrownPaperTickets.com

Sponsors of the REEL Recovery Film Festival San Francisco Bay Area edition currently include Wells Fargo Bank, Duffy’s Napa Valley Rehab, Center Point Inc., Kaiser Permanente Marin/Sonoma Area, Reflections, Recovery Station TV Series, Salesforce.com Foundation, KRON-TV, The Michael Basso Foundation, Muir Wood Adolescent and Family Services, The Newport Academy, ConocoPhillips, San Francisco Fire Fighters Local 798, County of Marin Division of Mental Health and Substance Use Services, Caron Treatment Centers, SF Weekly/Bay Guardian, The Pacific Sun and numerous individuals.