Screening to Initiate Discussion on Treatment & Recovery from Addiction

New York - Under the Influence: The Film Series, an unprecedented touring showcase of feature films and documentaries in which addiction and recovery play leading roles, continues its Boston launch with 28 DAYS starring Sandra Bullock and Viggo Mortensen, in a tragic-comedic take on society's perceptions of drug and alcohol dependence, treatment and recovery.

The screening of 28 DAYS takes place October 26 at the Kendall Square Cinema, One Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA. Doors open at 6:00 p.m., the film rolls at 6:30 p.m. Under the Influence is free and open to the public.

Under the Influence, presented by The Recovery Network Foundation, aims to advance the national discussion on addiction-recovery and to extinguish the stigma surrounding this disease, which has prevented people from getting the help they need. The series promotes the concept that addiction is a disease and it stresses the benefits of treatment, including medication in conjunction with addiction counseling - all of which can help lead to a solid recovery and prevent relapse. Under the Influence also embraces the importance of family and reconnection as central to a sustained recovery.

"Under the Influence uses film as a vehicle to examine our values and social conditioning with respect to recovery," said Robyn Leary, president of the Recovery Network Foundation and executive producer of the series. "We are pleased to be able to bring together experts from the New England addiction and recovery communities to spotlight this serious health issue."

Under the Influence is sponsored by the Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery (MOAR); Join Together; Faces and Voices of Recovery; The Recovery Network Foundation; the National Association on Alcohol, Drugs & Disability and by Cephalon, Inc., and Alkermes, Inc., which have introduced the medication Vivitrol.

"With millions of people suffering from alcohol dependence, we need to find new, more powerful ways to reach these individuals and their loved ones and to encourage hope for recovery. We are pleased to be a sponsor of the 2006 Under the Influence: The Film Series, which uses film as a cultural medium to educate and raise awareness about alcohol dependence and its treatment, including advances in medication and counseling," said Robert P. Roche, Jr., Executive Vice President, Worldwide Pharmaceutical Operations at Cephalon.

Following the screening, renowned experts in the addiction and recovery communities will lead a discussion on how the film portrays alcoholism and other chemical dependence and how the main characters deal with their difficult road to recovery. Panel experts will provide insights into the current treatment landscape and state-of-the art recovery advocacy and  public educational tools vital to eradicating the barriers to treatment.

Panel participants include:

• John Renner, M.D., Associate Chief of Psychiatry for the Boston VA Healthcare System and Chief of their Substance Abuse Treatment Program, Boston, MA;
  
  
• Maryanne Frangules, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery (MOAR), Boston, MA, a grassroots and peer recovery support-services organization;
  
  
• Stephen Chabot, M.D., Medical Director, Gateway Healthcare, Pawtucket, RI, has extensive experience pertaining to the psychiatric and medical care of patients;
  
  
• David Spencer, MBA, Vice President, Substance Abuse Services, Gateway Healthcare, Pawtucket, RI, has over 30 years experience of working in the field of substance abuse treatment and intervention.

For more information about the festival's national tour (Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York) including movies to be screened, please visit www.undertheinfluencethefilmseries.com.

Margaret Parsons, film curator at the National Gallery of Art, is Under the Influence's guest curator. Special advisers to the film series include the pioneer documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles; Catherine Wyler, Producer and Artistic Director of the High Falls Film Festival in Rochester, NY; William L. White, M.A., author and noted addiction treatment and recovery historian; Robin Room, PhD., Professor & Director of the Centre for Social Research on Alcohol & Drugs, Stockholm University; and film specialist Max Alvarez.

Under the Influence is free and open to the public.