The Hungry Heart, a documentary film on prescription drug addiction and recovery in Vermont, will be shown on Sunday February 7th 2016 at 5 pm at the Huntington Public Library. The film’s award-winning Director, Bess O’Brien of Kingdom County Productions, will run a Q and A after the screening/showing. Come and be part of an important community conversation about this pressing issue.
Produced by Kingdom County Productions The Hungry Heart provides an intimate look at the often hidden world of prescription drug addiction through the work of Vermont Pediatrician Fred Holmes (St. Albans and Franklin County) whose patients struggle with this disease. Through the film we see Dr. Holmes struggling with challenges of treating and managing opiate addiction in his patients and trying to make sense and keep the faith in the midst of many contradictions.
Kingdom County Productions and the Huntington VT Co-sponsors (Neighbor Helping Neighbor, Huntington Public Library, Richmond Family Medicine, Pleasant Mount Farm and Greenhouses, Beaudry’s Store and The Good Run Incorporated) have combined to bring the film and this conversation to Huntington. We have a budget of about 350 dollars (speaker fee, film acquisition for library, travel stipend and miscellaneous small expenses). Through the generous support of the sponsors listed above we have raised nearly that amount. We will be seeking a few more sponsors at 25 dollars each. Neighbor Helping Neighbor generously offered to pay the fee for Bess O’Brien’s facilitation on the 7th. We may ask for a voluntary donation at the event. If there is a net profit it will be divided between the Library programs and Neighbor Helping Neighbor. Sponsor checks can be sent to Helen Keith 1625 Camel’s Hump Road made out to the Huntington Public Library with a note “The Hungry Heart” event. Donations are tax deductible.
The audience for this documentary includes educators, coaches, human service providers, members of the faith community, health care personnel, essentially all adult community members, and perhaps older students/teen community members (although many older students have most likely seen this film). In my opinion, it is not meant for young children and yet it is about children and adults. It has been shown throughout Vermont, in high schools and across the country, serving as a platform for discussing what communities can do to prevent, treat and help people recover.
Since Governor Shumlin’s ambitious opiate addiction initiative in 2013 to deal with the rising prescription drug and heroin addiction in Vermont The Hungry Heart has been featured on many national press and media outlets including the ABC Evening News, The New York Times, Al Jazeera television, The Boston Globe, NPR’s On Point, WBUR’s Radio Boston and MSNBC. The Hungry Heart is also the 2015 winner of the outstanding media award from the American Academy of Addiction Medicine.
For more information about the film, go to www.kingdomcounty.org
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