A Star is Re-Born –

Oct. 15, 2020 – Sobriety, not property and prestige, has given me the most meaningful gifts. I am part of a fellowship of people who understand what I’ve been through, who loves me as I am and who want to see me succeed. I’ve made intimate friendships unsullied by competition or jealousy. I learned how to love others and most importantly how to love myself.

The strained and shattered relationships with my three children are mended and have been transformed through understanding, forgiveness and love. I got divorced in sobriety and grieved that 25-year marriage and I learned to live as a single mother. A source of immense joy has been living with my youngest daughter over the past three years. She is taking a GAP year in Israel and has the proverbial “roots and wings” to enjoy her new adventure. As time went on, I became the mother I always hoped I would be. My children don’t care that I was an alcoholic and drug addict, they care that I stay clean and sober – we all know the reality of the fatal nature of my disease.

When I was 18 months sober a job dropped into my lap. I mentioned to a man Leonard Buschel, founder of Writers In Treatment, that I was writing my resume. He offered me position. What began as making cold calls for sponsorships turned into my current career as producer and programmer of the REEL Recovery Film Festival & Symposium. I still can’t believe that after working for only six months, Leonard trusted me enough to allow me to produce a 7-day film festival, including opening and closing night parties.

Growing up in LA with a family in the entertainment industry and with my experiences when I was drinking and using – working for a film festival that is committed to screening original works about alcoholism, addiction, and mental illness is a perfect fit. My greatest pleasure is working with the passionate and dedicated filmmakers who use their personal experience to create honest, powerful films that are both heartwarming and heartbreaking.

COVID 19 has been a challenge to event producers. Being in a theater creates an energy and flow from screen to audience to filmmaker and back. Since our films are often triggering or uncomfortable our “process” groups with the audience, either with the filmmaker or a clinician is a distinguishing feature of the RRFF. But we are not going to let a pandemic or asteroid stop the 12th year of the REEL Recovery Film Festival – “the show must go on”. The REEL Recovery Film Channel makes it’s Virtual debut November 6-12 on Film Festival Flix.

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