The Pain Is Real. The Solution is Here.

13 Jun The Pain Is Real. The Solution is Here.

While in San Francisco I went for a couple of long runs. One one I captured this image from the top of a hill.

This past weekend we had three profoundly moving screenings in San Francisco. With each event the sense that this film can bring about real change grows.

We surprised everyone by filling the Roxie theater for our first SF Docfest screening on Saturday. One of the first “questions” in the Q&A was a story from a woman who had the kind of regional pain syndrome that Amy Skinner tells us about in the film. This woman described having two swollen purple hands. A year ago she found Dr sarno’s book, and she raised her hands to show us they were fine. After the movie I was approached by filmmaker Terry Zwigoff (“Crumb” and “Ghost World”). He told us that Sarno’s book had saved him from years of pain. We asked if we could film his story. He agreed because of his appreciation for Dr. Sarno’s help. In short he spent 8 years suffering to the point he wasn’t sure if he wanted to live. He found Dr. Sarno’s book and was skeptical. He called Dr. Sarno and was told to read the book again. He did, and two weeks later his pain slowly disappeared.

While Terry’s story in intense, it is not magic, nor placebo. Instead it was a lasting healing that came from recognizing a basic truth. Simply re-framing the way in which we engage with the world can lead to profound changes in our health. After a half a dozen screenings it is clear that the film can be a powerful tool for helping people to make this shift.

The day after our SF premiere we screened it twice for a cinema club in San Jose. A woman named Christina reached out to us a few weeks ago, offering to help get the word out in San Francisco- she hadn’t seen the film but Dr Sarno’s books had changed her life. Imagine her surprise when she found out the film was great too. Not only did she help us pack the theater, but she drove me down to San Jose to boot!

Twice a month members show up to see a surprise screening. Boy we’re they surprised! Over 300 people stayed for an hour for Q&A over the course of the two screenings. Once again there were almost no questions about filmmaking. Instead the discussion was largely focused on people working through the connections about their own emotions and their health issues that they had made while watching. After the film I invariably talk to a half dozen people who are somewhat in shock because the shift they are making is so subtle that it is almost imperceptible yet powerful. Many people understand that their stress is a huge factor in their pain. However, very few have seen that it might be the cause of it. They often recognize that the stress is there but hadn’t made the leap to the fact that they could shift they way that they engage with it. The concept of having empathy for themselves, and for their inner child is new to them. However, as they process that idea while watching the film they see the possibility, and it leaves them stunned.

While we want to make it as widely available as possible as soon as we can. we also understand that we have to follow a pathway that involves theatrically releasing the film first. Just as the medical world won’t recognize Dr. Sarno’s work until their are randomized control studies that support it- we can’t get reviews of the film unless it is presented in theaters. Like studies published in journals, those reviews create a sense of legitimacy within the film world, that is necessary to get it written about. That process begins on June 23rd. While those reviews are important for establishing the films “bona fides”, the box office numbers have even more power in a system like ours, built on the primacy of capital.

If you want to help us make the film a success the greatest tools that you have are your voice and your wallet. We need to show huge numbers when we open at Cinema Village in NY. We are asking supporters to do the following.

1. Share our trailer on FACEBOOK while also encouraging people to pre-buy tickets

2. If you have seen the film please give us an IMDb review– and share that on FACEBOOK.

3. Buy Tickets now. If you don’t live in NY, buy them for friends.

4. Choose a screening time (there are 15 – 1,3,5,,7,9 daily) and make a Facebook event – then invite everyone you know- letting them know you’ll be there. We’ll be there. We are doing a Q and A at every screening on opening weekend.

Here’s a recent review on IMBb. I think this woman was at one of our Sunday screenings.

“All The Rage, came at the exact time I needed it! I have been struggling with a boss that is a bully, an 88 year mother who’s health is declining, and on the more positive side – getting married!!! My body is definitely letting me know, pretty much on a daily basis, how stressed out I am.

This film is a deeply personal journey through how life is reflected in our bodies. I came away with a renewed sense of hope and a deep comfort in knowing that many others struggle just I do with how we deal with stress.

Thank you, Dr. Sarno for have the courage to think outside the box. Thank goodness Michael & Suki didn’t give up on the project!!!” – Nancy

lastly I want to leave you with a post our new friend Selena wrote yesterday. Selena is a colleague of my mothers. She reached out to me on Facebook and we became friends. She was sharing the trailer a lot and I assumed that my mother had shared the film with her. She hadn’t, so I did. Selena had a powerful response.

Several weeks ago, I felt like the hawk in this video. I was wrapped up so tightly in all of my stress and pain that I couldn’t budge. Every time I tried to exercise I’d inflame my knees and spend several days icing and resting after. Around the same time, the trailer for All the Rage began popping up in my FB feed, and by virtue of living in the same small community as the filmmakers, I had the opportunity to see the whole film. And I am not kidding, something shifted in me. All the Rage has functioned in my life like the guy who helps the hawk in the video. This past weekend I went hiking with my family and got to snap the beautiful picture I pasted in the comments below. If you’re struggling with a chronic physical or mental health issue, it’s definitely worth watching All the Rage. In fact you should demand to see it