The REAL REVOERY FESTIVAL, ending today at Quad Cinema in New York, presents new films about addiction and recovery. It's in its sixth year and besides NYC lists Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Vancouver, and Delray Beach, Florida as additional venues running through the fall and spring months. Sacramento is another venue being developed. For more information go to http://www.realrecoveryfestival.org. The American Addict films, which I sampled from this year's fest, are hard-hitting documentaries about how the "War on Drugs" has only benefitted Big Pharma, leading to the US population's incrasing problem with addictive use of prescription medications.

Watch for the series at other venues:

Houston, Apr. 4-6
San Francisco, Apr. 24-27
Vancouver, September
Las Vegas, Sept. 19-21
New York, Sept. 26-Oct. 2
Los Angeles, Oct. 24 - 30
Delray Beach, Nov. 7-9
Chicago, Nov. 14-16
Denver, May 29-31, 2015
Sacramento 2015

Here is a program of the series at Quad Cinema.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27

6pm How to Touch a Hot Stove
(2014) featuring narration by actor John Turturro and exclusive interviews with Nobel Prize laureate Eric Kandel, Oliver Sacks and others. How to Touch a Hot Stove is a film that points to complex variations in human experience and differences in thinking, feeling, and perception; identifies the new civil rights movement that has emerged to combat the marginalization of those with ‘mental disorders’ and explores why that movement is more complex than other civil rights movements. It challenges audiences to go ‘beyond the movement’ and make a difference. Director: Sheryll Franko. 23 Minutes
IN PERSON: Exec. Prods: Lois Oppenheim, Alice Maher; and very special guests

TUESDAY, SEPT 30

1:30pm Kids Are Dying
(2014) The drug overdose epidemic in New Jersey is worse than it has ever been. More state residents have died from drug overdoses than in car accidents. New Jersey has the purest heroin in the country. In setting out to tell this story, the filmmakers quickly learned that this problem not only exists in New Jersey, but the entire country. Director: Michael DeLeon. 46 Minutes
IN PERSON: Director Michael DeLeon and guests

3pm American Addict 1
(2012) American Addict 1 unveils how America has gone from the land of the free to the land of the addicted. America represents 5% of the world’s population but consumes 50% of the world’s prescription pills and over 80% of the world’s prescription narcotics. This film reveals the relationships between the FDA, big Pharma, physicians and the media that ensure medical problems are treated with pills and not ethics. Voiced by Producer, Dr. Gregory Smith. Director Sasha Knezev, 89 Minutes

5pm A Royal Hangover
(2014) United Kingdom. A relevant portrait of a nation and its love of drink. Critically acclaimed filmmaker and accomplished non-drinker Arthur Cauty serves up a documentary fireball, in equal parts shocking, hilarious, sympathetic and thought-provoking; a film we can all toast to. Featuring Russell Brand.Director, Arthur Cauty.
IN PERSON: Special Guests

WEDNESDAY, OCT 1

1pm Without a Home
(2012) Growing up in Los Angeles, a city whose homeless population exceeds 90,000, filmmaker Rachel Fleischer always felt a deep connection to thehomeless. Her desire to understand that connection takes twenty-three year old Fleischer on an extraordinary, four year journey into the lives of six homeless individuals and families as they struggle to find homes, get clean, and survive.
Director: Rachel Fleischer. 74 Minutes

3pm On Life’s Terms: Mothers in Recovery
(2014) This film follows five mothers struggling with substance abuse in a unique residential treatment program in San Rafael, CA, as told through the eyes and candid scenes with their children. The women learn responsibility and integrity as they strive to overcome addiction, domestic violence, prostitution and incarceration to make life better for their family. Director: Sheila Ganz. 57 Minutes
IN PERSON: Director Sheila Ganz

THURSDAY, OCT 2

2pm May I Be Frank
(2010) It is the life of Frank Ferrante, 54-years-old, weighing 290 lbs; abuses drugs and alcohol; and has contracted Hepatitis-C. Now sober, but on multiple medications (including anti-depressants,) Frank is undergoing chemo, and drinks 10 espressos a day to stay awake. One day, Frank hands his life over the owner of a raw food café in San Francisco. Watch as Frank’s friends help him tackle his weight, health, relationships and self-loathing—in just 42 days. Director: Gregg Marks. 90 Minutes

6pm Sober Indian, Dangerous Indian
(East Coast Premiere)(2014) Sober Indian, Dangerous Indian tells the story of four Lakota men who left their homes on the dry Pine Ridge, South Dakota reservation to feed their alcohol addiction across thestate line in Whiteclay, Nebraska—a town of 14 residents with four liquor stores that sell 4 millions cans of beer every year. Director: John Maisch. 85 Minutes
IN PERSON: Director John Maisch

8pm CLOSING NIGHT WORLD PREMIERE:
American Addict 2
(2014) American Addict 2 picks up where the first film left off and breaks even more new ground! It continues to expose the “pills for problems” mentality of our medical system by showing the tragic lives of chronic pain patients hooked on prescription pills in the US, the marketing of pills to children and the link between mass shootings and prescription drugs. Created and written by Gregory Smith, MD. Director:
IN PERSON: Director Sasha Knezev and Gregory Smith, MD

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©Chris Knipp. Blog: http://chrisknipp.blogspot.com/.