Competition Launch - Press Release
Recovery Street Film Festival aims to change public perceptions….
This summer sees the launch of the inaugural Recovery Street Film Festival. Organised by a partnership of drug and alcohol treatment providers including Phoenix Futures, Turning Point, CRI, Addaction, Blenheim CDP and Action on Addiction, supported by Public Health England and Drugscope, the festival will highlight the issues that are faced by those on the road to recovery.
The Recovery Street Film Festival will hit the streets in September starting in London and moving to the streets of major cities in the UK including Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow and Liverpool. Films shown at the festival will drawn from an open competition in which anyone directly or indirectly affected by addiction will be invited to share their story by making a short 3 minute film on the theme ‘Deserving a Future’.
A judging panel of film industry experts will be selecting films to feature at ‘pop-up’ street cinemas which will be showing the films in September 2014. Members of the public will be invited to stop and view one or more of the films and encouraged to seek out more films on-line. Qualifying films, including those not selected by the judges for the festival, will also be available to watch and share on-line as part of education and insight around addiction and recovery. There will be an award for the film that most clearly illustrates the festival theme in an original and imaginative way. The group or individual making winning film chosen by the judges will receive £1000 worth of film related prizes.
Hundreds of thousands of people are directly affected by drug and alcohol problems and many thousand will, at this moment, be facing the challenge of achieving and sustaining long term recovery. The festival organisers are encouraging all past and present clients, their friends and families and drug and alcohol service staff to take a full and active part in Recovery Street, both in producing the films and engaging with the public where the films are shown.
Bob Campbell of Phoenix Futures, speaking on behalf of the organisers stated ,“ Working in the substance misuse field we know that there are many misconceptions about substance misuse and that stigma still exists against people who have had alcohol or drug problems. By giving those affected by such problems a chance to tell their story directly to the public we aim to break down the barriers to understanding and compassion that may exist in some people’s minds. .”
You can find out more about the Recovery Street Film Festival on their website http://www.recoverystreetfilmfestival.co.uk/ or you can follow the action on Twitter at #RecoveryStreet
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