For more information contact:
Kristen Foster/ Erica Gerard
(646) 792-2230
KFoster@KFPR.net/
Egerard@KFPR.net
Click
here for Post-Premier Canvas Photos!
CANVAS
Award
Winning Hollywood, Florida film maker premieres
feature film in South Florida on October 17TH
at Cinema
Paradiso
Starring
Emmy Award winner Joe Pantoliano and
Academy
Award winner Marcia Gay Harden
And
introducing Devon Gearhart
“First
Rate Performances…” – John Anderson,
Variety
“A
triumphant, beautifully acted film” – Peter
Travers,
Rolling Stone
HONORED
BY NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness)
OUTSTANDING
MEDIA AWARD for DRAMATIC MOTION PICTURE
OTHER HONORS INCLUDE:
NY
Film Critics Series screening
Audience Award - Sarasota Film Festival
Best Feature Film Award - Sedona Film Festival
Outstanding
Acting Award- Joe Pantoliano - Sedona Film Festival
Audience Award - Fort Lauderdale Film Festival
Best Dramatic Performance Award - Joe Pantoliano
- Fort Lauderdale Film Festival
Hampton's Int'l Film Festival Official Selection-
Spotlight Film (Non-competition)
Distinctive
Voices Award - Joe Pantoliano & Joseph Greco
- National Council on Behavioral Healthcare
AFI-Dallas Film Festival Official Selection
(New York, NY,
September 7, 2007
) – CANVAS
is
the emotionally charged story of one family's
struggle with mental illness, starring Emmy
Award winner Joe Pantoliano, Academy Award winner
Marcia Gay Harden and newcomer Devon Gearhart
that will premier in South Florida theaters
on Wednesday October 17, 2007 with a South Florida general release date of
October 19, 2007. The October 17th premiere will
be a special star-studded event at Cinema Paradiso
and will be followed by a VIP
reception.
In his debut feature film, writer/director Joseph
Greco, a South Florida native, explores mental
illness through the eyes of a child as he learns
to cope with his schizophrenic mother in a sincere
depiction inspired by the filmmaker's own childhood.
The tough topic matter is addressed with
a surprisingly uplifting and sometimes even
humorous tone that illustrates how from tragedy
springs hope, growth, and understanding in this
remarkably heartfelt tale.
Doctors and members of the mental health community
have been rallying behind the film. Dr. Steven
Ronik, the Chief Executive Officer of Henderson
Mental Health Center in Broward County, Florida,
is one such community leader and advocate. “My
hope is that CANVAS will help people
understand that as a community we must move
beyond the stigma of mental health problems
and view these issues with the gift of human
compassion.” Henderson Mental Health Center has several
South Florida locations and is a private, not-for-profit
behavioral healthcare organization that provides
comprehensive, recovery-focused services to
children and adults.
The Center provides a range of high quality,
community-based prevention, education, treatment,
and rehabilitation services. “CANVAS is insightful, and a compellingly
moving portrayal of the impact of mental illness
on the life of a family and this opportunity
to bring to light the aspects of mental illness
via a local film maker is not to be missed,”
Dr. Ronik added.
Henderson Mental Health Center is joining forces with
Joseph Greco, the director, to help families
become aware of their facilities and services
in South Florida. Henderson provides accessible,
cost effective, and quality behavioral healthcare
services to promote mental health and well-being.
“CANVAS is inspired by my
own childhood growing up in Hollywood, FL with
a mentally ill parent, but what started out
as a personal film is now becoming a story about
hope for anyone facing any kind of intractable
problem,” says Greco. To find out more about Henderson and mental
health issues, visit www.hendersonmhc.org.
Evelyn Miller, a consultant to the film and the co-director
of National Association for Mental Illness (NAMI),
says having
the opportunity to witness CANVAS come to fruition in Broward
County was a wonderful experience. Ms.
Miller was working with the director when he
started to look for resources and financing.
“I have watched CANVAS become the important
and vital film it is today, an authentic and
powerful portrayal about an ordinary family
coping with mental illness. This award
winning film is as full of hope and humor as
it is heartwarming and heartbreaking,” Miller
continued.
For actor Joe Pantoliano the film was a learning experience.
“This film has been a very personal journey
in helping me to understand mental illness and
the magnitude of brain disease.
In doing this film I have been liberated
in looking at the stigmas and lack of education
on mental illness and the importance of being
accurately diagnosed. I realize now that my mother's behavior
of ‘choice' was not her choice.
Now 25 years after her death I understand
that my mother went through her entire life
undiagnosed.
Canvas has that liberating affect on
all of us.”
Pantoliano also stressed, “This film
isn't just about schizophrenia, it is about
mental illness and how families and communities
deal with it from day to day in a very positive
way. I
have seen mental illness demonized, romanticized,
but never depicted realistically. Canvas is a sincere portrayal based on
personal experience.
The film is truly a prescription for
hope. ”
It is estimated that mental illness affects 1 in 5
families in America with nearly 6% of Americans.
Going much deeper than Schizophrenia, the film
explores the larger issue of mental illness
and the affects it has on families, friends,
neighbors, and communities. It also explores the fine line between madness
and eccentricity.
In addition to receiving several awards
at film festivals, CANVAS has been touching
audiences in unexpected ways, often receiving
standing ovations.
###
CANVAS premiere, October 17, 2007 @ Cinema Paradiso,
Fort Lauderdale, FL:
To be a part of the CANVAS premiere and the
VIP event contact Karen Drumheller, Director of Development,
at 954-777-1624 or kdrumheller@hendersonmhc.org
.
Film Synopsis
Ten-year-old Chris Marino, played by newcomer Devon
Gearhart, just wants to be normal but his mother's
(Marcia Gay Harden) bouts of paranoia and delusion
give new meaning to the term dysfunctional family.
Dad, John, (Joe Pantoliano) breaks his back
as a construction worker struggling to pay for
Mary's doctor bills, and find the right medicine
to treat her schizophrenia, leaving little time
or energy to give to his son. When Mary's
behavior takes a dangerous turn, father and
son watch helplessly as the police drag Mary
out of the house to hospitalize her in a mental
institution.
Unable to face his wife's illness or console
his son, John begins building a mysterious object
in the driveway of their home. He quits
his job, the bills pile up, but John compulsively
works day and night to build a sailboat, abandoning
his son at his darkest hour. Ridiculed
at school and terrified that he too will become
‘crazy', Chris is left adrift without a mother
or father's support. Desperate to escape
his troubled family, Chris makes plans to move
in with an aunt in Alaska resulting in a dramatic
confrontation between father and son.
With newfound understanding and respect, father
and son work tirelessly to complete the boat
together, hopeful that Mary will join them on
the maiden voyage. Mary, still plagued
by voices but lucid enough to acknowledge her
illness, makes the painful decision not to join
her family. Disappointed but determined
not to let down his son, John sets sail and
teaches Chris the magic of sailing. Working
together, father and son come to terms with
Mary's illness and inspire each other to hope.
In a grand gesture John and Chris bring the
boat to Mary—reuniting the family and fulfilling
a special promise made long ago.
To find out more about the film, visit www.canvasthefilm.com.
About Henderson Mental Health Center:
Henderson Mental Health Center is private, not-for-profit
501(c)3 behavioral
healthcare organization providing comprehensive,
recovery-focused services for over 53 years.
They serve nearly 20,000 people every
year. Henderson
is proud to be a key behavioral health care
partner delivering services for children, adolescents,
adults, elders, and families.
Henderson's operations are separated into eight functional
divisions: Crisis Services, Youth and Family
Services, Residential Services, Community Support
Services, Psychosocial Rehabilitation, Prevention
and Education, Adult Outpatient, and Administration. They have fourteen (14) locations throughout
Broward County offering: Psychiatry, Residential
Treatment, Foster Care, Assertive Community
Treatment; Crisis, Rehabilitation Services,
Supported Employment, Outpatient, Forensic,
Case Management, Overlay, Homeless Outreach,
Emergency Shelter, Scattered-site Housing, and
a Homeless Drop In Center. Henderson provides individual, group and
family therapy; medication education/management;
psychiatric and nursing assessments and treatment;
and peer and family support groups. To get help for a family member or friend,
please contact Henderson Mental Health Center's
Crisis Line at 954-463-0911.
###
updated 09/07/07