"Flight" with Denzel Washington to End Final Day of REEL Recovery Film Festival - SF Bay Area Edition

News provided by

Apr 27, 2014, 11:44 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, April 27, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The first REEL Recovery Film Festival – San Francisco Bay Area Edition, produced by Alcohol Justice and Writers In Treatment, will end at 10 p.m. tonight. The final day of the two-city, four-day festival is filled with honest films about addiction, alcoholism, behavioral disorders, treatment and recovery. CEUs are available for all of today's films for licensed mental health and substance abuse treatment professionals.

New Film Event Scheduled for San Francisco Bay Area. (PRNewsFoto/Alcohol Justice) (PRNewsFoto/ALCOHOL JUSTICE)

At 9:30 a.m. Shut Yer Dirty Little Mouth will play at the Delancey Street Theater in San Francisco. This quirky independent film offers a fascinating raw portrayal of conflict, love, alcohol, hatred, pathos, and more alcohol in 1988 San Francisco. The TRUE STORY takes place in the roach-ridden Lower Haight, in a Pepto Bismal-pink dingbat apartment at 237 Steiner. Audio taped by the neighbors upstairs, two grievously alcoholic middle-aged men fight and curse their nights away. Directed by Robert Taicher. Staring Gill Gayle and Glenn Shadix.

At 11:00 a.m. Without a Home will play at the Delancey Street Theater in San Francisco. This gritty film follows a young woman's desire to understand the homeless epidemic in her native city of Los Angeles. Her quest takes her on an unexpected 4-year journey into the lives of several homeless individuals as they struggle to find homes, get clean, and survive. Filmmaker Rachel Fleischer will be present for Q & A.

At 11:00 a.m. Behind the Orange Curtain will be presented at the Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael. This documentary delves into the staggering problem of teenage prescription drug abuse in one of the most affluent counties in the country. California State Assembly Member Marc Levine will offer opening comments. Producer Natalie Costa, Muir Wood Clinical Director, Jennifer Golick, Director of the Marin County Prescription Drug Abuse Task Force, Mark Dale, author Erin Marie Daly, Caron Treatment Centers' Christian O'Donnell, and Dr. William Hanna, Clinical Director, Reflections, will discuss the film, the problems, and their relevance to Marin County.

At 12: 45 p.m. Rock Bottom: Gay Men and Meth will play at the Delancey Street Theater in San Francisco. While abuse of Crystal Meth (a form of homebrewed amphetamines) has been on the rise in all parts of the United States, use of the drug has becomes especially problematic in a number of large cities with sizable gay populations.

At 2:00 p.m. Drunk in Public will play at the Delancey Street Theater in San Francisco. This feature documentary directed by award winning filmmaker David J. Sperling, chronicles the last 18 years in the touching, tragic and thought-provoking life of Mark David Allen, a man arrested more than 500 times. The film provides a non-judgmental objective long-term look at alcoholism. Nothing produced captures the progressive nature of addiction like this film...It is somber, educational, and sometimes strangely funny.

At 3:45 p.m. The Anonymous People will play at the Delancey Street Theater in San Francisco. Director Greg D. Williams' feature documentary film is about the over 23 million Americans living in long-term recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs. The premise is Recovery is OUT - to change the addiction conversation from problems to SOLUTIONS.

At 5:20 p.m. Mad Dance - Mental Health Trilogy will screen at the Delancey Street Theater in San Francisco. These three poetic and transformative shorts offer new maps for navigating madness with insight, healing and hope.

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

Director Ken Paul Rosenthal will be present after the films for audience discussion.

At 6:50 p.m. Flight with Denzel Washington will be the last film of the festival. He plays an alcoholic commuter airline pilot facing criminal charges for flying under the influencing, crashing and causing fatalities. Larry Smith, a commercial pilot for United Airlines whose fascinating life story mirrors the story of Flight, will introduce the film.

"Tickets for all of today's films are still available through BrownPaperTickets.com," stated Festival Director Michael Scippa, Director of Public Affairs for Alcohol Justice. "And the price of admission is still just a nominal $5, but we'll allow anyone admittance regardless of their ability to pay." For more information about the festival, go to: FilmFestSFBay.org The goal of the REEL Recovery Film Festival is to highlight the disease as well as the hope and opportunity for recovery.

"We are so grateful for the generous support we received to make these films available to the Bay Area," said Leonard Buschel, founder of Writers In Treatment. "That, combined with a great turnout of recovery community members, assures us there will be a REEL Recovery Film Festival – San Francisco Bay Area Edition in 2015."

This year's sponsors included: