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Media Savvy |
Recovery Film Festival
20 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| June 2014
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
MEDIASAVVY
WHO’S BEEN SAYING WHAT..?
Unless you have a young male family member who is repeatedly
stopped and searched, it is difficult to appreciate the bitterness it
causes… The striking thing is that some policemen, and their
apologists, remain so invested in non-evidence-based stop-and-
searchwhen they know that only 9 per cent of such stops result in
arrests (mostly for small amounts of cannabis), and they also
know how damaging it is for police-community relationships.
Diane Abbott,
Guardian
, 2 May
If [Peaches Geldof’s] post mortem had discovered a fatal heart
condition or cancer, we would be entitled to our sadness. But
when the lethal blow is dealt by the more insidious hand of
heroin, then the deceased is judged to be unworthy of our
compassion. It’s a heartless position, wholly devoid of human
empathy.
Lucy Hunter Johnson,
Independent
, 2 May
When I read in the papers about what Peaches did – or indeed
anyone in the grip of this foul disease – the thing I’m always
careful to remember is that it’s not them. It’s the addiction.
Somehow the Addiction God kidnaps their ability to think or
behave rationally.
James McConnel,
London Evening Standard
, 2 May
All of us who are sober today had to fall down – oftenmany times
and before anguished eyes. We had to hit the ground hard
enough to be willing to stand up. And for all that pain, we were
the lucky ones. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Cory Monteith and
everyone who dies each day from alcoholism and addiction
remind us just how lethal this disease is.
Bill Clegg,
Guardian
, 9 May
Drug addiction is a terrible thing, but it is not a disease.
Jan Moir,
Mail
, 2 May
If the argument that e-cigarettes will ultimately lure kids into
smoking seems specious, I suspect that’s largely because the
one thing that smoking an e-cigarette definitely doesn’t do is
make you look good… If an aura of cool has somehow clung to
cigarettes despite the best efforts of anti-smoking campaigners
– despite the fact that the most visible pro-smoking campaigner
in Britain is currently Nigel Farage, a man with all the insouciant
cool of a toddler on a bouncy castle – then the opposite seems
to be true of e-cigarettes.
Alexis Petridis,
Guardian
, 5 May
In an imperfect world, but one where the effects of smoking
comprise a large threat to the health of the nation, we should act
on the balance of probabilities – which is that e-cigarettes cut
smoking. Like health education, the ban in pubs and high
taxation, e-cigarettes are part of the answer.
Independent
editorial, 20 May
Three out of four serious offenders are now walking out of court
saddled only with community orders, fines or suspended
sentences… The liberals whose malign influence still dominates
our criminal justice system spew out all sorts of nonsense about
why prison is such a terrible idea, but the facts are clear.
Stephen Pollard,
Express
, 17 May
THIS SUMMER
will see the launch of the inaugural Recovery Street Film Festival. Organised by
a consortium of treatment providers including Phoenix Futures, Turning Point, CRI, Blenheim
and Action on Addiction, supported by Public Health England (PHE) and DrugScope, the
festival aims to celebrate and promote recovery from substance dependency.
The festival will hit the streets in September, starting in London and moving to several
major cities in the UK, and will be hosted online at www.recoverystreetfilmfestival.co.uk.
The festival is now open for submissions and we are encouraging anyone directly or
indirectly affected by addiction to make a short film (maximum of three minutes) about
aspects of addiction and, more specifically, recovery.
Statistics from PHE show that 29,025 people successfully completed their treatment
programme in 2012-2013. That is 29,025 people on their recovery journey, and the festival
organisers are encouraging all past and present service users, their friends and families and
drug and alcohol service staff to take a full and active part in Recovery Street. Working in
the substance misuse field we know that there are many misconceptions about substance
misuse and that a lot of stigma still exists. Recovery Street is an opportunity to take a closer
look at recovery, express the issues involved in substance dependency and celebrate and
promote individual stories of recovery.
At the heart of the Recovery Street Film Festival is the desire to challenge and change
public perceptions about substance misuse. Its theme, ‘Deserving a Future’, focuses on
those living in recovery and meeting the challenge of finding a place in society. We want to
demonstrate through the medium of film the diverse issues that are faced by people
overcoming addiction and how those around them can be affected. We would like the
three-minute films to make an immediate impact on the audience and as such, apart from
the need to focus on recovery, there are no restrictions on creativity. Films can be short
dramatic plays using actors, drawn or stop-frame animation, documentary-style pieces, or
simply personal stories. We want the films to show a different side to the story of addiction
– one that shows a true picture of the determination, commitment and courage that is
required to face the challenge of starting life afresh.
A panel of film professionals will select the official festival films, including Sylvia Harvey,
founding member of the Sheffield International Documentary Festival and visiting professor
at the Institute of Communications Studies, University of Leeds, and David Cohen,
psychologist, writer and documentary filmmaker. These will be shown at a ‘pop-up’
Recovery Street cinema in a number of major UK cities during September.
Members of the public will be invited to stop and view one or more of the films and
encouraged to seek out more films online. As well as a panel award for the most original
and imaginative approaches to telling stories of addiction and recovery, there will be a
public vote award to determine the winners and highly commended films.
Film submissions not shown as part of the festival will be hosted online, alongside the
official festival films, to create a library of insight and education around addiction and
recovery.
You can find out more about the Recovery Street Film Festival on our website
http://www.recoverystreetfilmfestival.co.uk/ or you can follow the action on Twitter at
#RecoveryStreet
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A roving Recovery Street Film Festival aims to change public
perceptions of addiction, as the organising team explains