Presents
3rd Annual Film Festival
November 15th - 19th 2022
Films and Recorded interviews are available through saturday, nov 26th
Welcome to TRF's 3rd Annual Film Festival
Trauma Research Foundation is pleased to present the 2022 Film Festival. This year we will be showcasing a variety of films that explore the process of healing from trauma from different sources and perspectives. Access to the films will be available for a week after the event.
We hope you can join us for one or all of the films!
Live Q & A
Each film showing will be followed by a live Q&A session with key members of the film and experts in the field of trauma.
Audience choice awards
Cast your vote for the audience choice award! Winner receives a $1,000 donation to qualifying organization of their choice.
Free with a suggested donation
Your donation supports the filmmakers and their causes as well as Trauma Research Foundation's mutually aligned projects.
Please note: This is a virtual event. Films will be shown at scheduled times but attendees will have access to all films until November 26th.
Speak What We Feel
- Tuesday, November 15th
- 7:00 pm ET
- Film by Patrick J. Toole, Narrated by Kevin G. Coleman
- https://www.shakespeare.org/shows/2021/in-person-screening-of-speak-what-we-feel
Speak What We Feel tells the story of the Fall Festival of Shakespeare, a personally inspiring and academically rigorous theatrical tradition where hundreds of high school students come together annually to meet Shakespeare’s plays on his terms, create a performance festival, and together embark on a wild and whirling adventure of ten plays in ten schools all opening on the same night. The Festival culminates in a four-day community event bringing all ten shows together under one roof at the Tina Packer Playhouse for what has been called by a Boston radio station, a “rock concert of Shakespeare.” Watch as a new generation of students encounter Shakespeare’s stories — and unfold their own in the process.
Live Q&A @ 8:40 pm ET with Director, Patrick Toole and Director of Education, Kevin Coleman
Watch the trailer
This Might Hurt
- Wednesday, November 16th
- 7:00 - 8:30 pm ET
- Film by Kent Bassett & Marion Cunningham
- https://www.thismighthurtfilm.com/
is a documentary that offers solutions to reduce and unlearn chronic pain. The film follows three chronic pain patients who have spent years searching for answers. Desperate for relief, they enter a new medical program — run by Dr. Howard Schubiner — that focuses on uncovering hidden causes of pain, and retraining their brains to switch the pain off.
This new paradigm for diagnosis and treatment was found to be effective in several randomized trials, and was listed as a “best practice” by the HHS’s task force to combat the opioid epidemic. This Might Hurt provides an intimate exploration and suggests a path to healing for millions.
Live Q&A @ 8:40 – 9:10 pm ET
From Shock to Awe
- Friday, November 18th
- 7:00 - 8:30 pm ET
- https://www.fromshocktoawe.com/
From Shock to Awe asks, ‘how do we heal our deepest wounds?’ An intimate and raw look at the transformational journey of two combat veterans suffering from severe trauma as they abandon pharmaceuticals to seek relief through the mind-expanding world of psychedelics. Recent scientific research coupled with a psychedelic renaissance reveals that these substances can be used to heal PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) for individuals and their families. Beyond the personal stories, From Shock to Awe also raises fundamental questions about war, the pharmaceutical industry, and the US legal system.
The documentary centers on veterans, Matt Kahl and Mike Cooley, and their challenging post-war lives, lives shattered by the trauma of war. The vets personally struggle with anxiety, fear, depression, anger, and an overall inability to find an equilibrium in society and with their families. In order to deal with their erratic emotions and haunted state-of-mind, doctors prescribe intense pharmaceuticals with various side effects that bring them face-to-face with death. In response to the negative impact of traditional Western medicine, both vets begin to use cannabis as an alternative. Although beneficial on many levels, our heroes yearn for deeper healing.
Live Q&A @ 8:40 – 9:10 pm ET
Watch the trailer
Follow the link "Watch on YouTube" below to agree to view the trailer.
Watch the trailer
Short: The Wound Is Where the Light Enters
- Saturday, November 19th
- 1:00 pm - 1:30 pm
THE WOUND IS WHERE THE LIGHT ENTERS was created by Dheeraj Akolkar (Vardo Films, UK). It is a film about the making of ‘OTINO ONYWALO ILUM’, docu-dance-theatre by Darrel Toulon, devised with and performed by fifteen children born in captivity in Northern Uganda. In the Nilotic language of the Lango people, these “children born in the bush” are widely referred to as “otino onywalo ilum”, and are comparable to thousands of children born of sexual violence in war and conflict zones across Africa. The production of OTINO ONYWALO ILUM, uses artistically transformed biographies of these children born of war (CBOW) providing them thereby with training in the necessary performance skills to become interpreters of their own life-stories onstage, and articulate speakers in their communities. The intensive four-week workshop which was held at in residence at St. Mary’s College Aboke, was designed by Darrel Toulon of The Alpha Group (Austria), and involved the participation of international Facilitators and local Mentors. The project aims to support and inspire CBOW to accept and embrace their complex identities, to recognize and unleash their potential, and to achieve personal growth. It seeks to enable CBOW to make themselves visible and to advocate for their rights, as well as show how creativity can provide an important outlet and source of healing.
Live Q&A @ 1:40 – 2:10 pm ET
Being Michelle
- Saturday, November 19th
- 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
- https://www.beingmichelle.com/
BEING MICHELLE is an award-winning feature-length documentary film about a deaf woman with autism who survived incarceration and abuse and now uses her artwork to depict the trauma she survived and heal from her past.
Live Q&A: 8:40 – 9:20 pm ET
Watch the trailer
Sign Up
This event is a community-building fundraising event. There will be 5 films shown over 4 days and we suggest donating $50 for the entire festival or $10-$25 per film that you choose to watch. Please note that there is no minimum donation requirement, and the dollar amount can be adjusted in the box below. You will need to enter your email to receive a link to join us for the event.
Your donation supports the filmmakers and their causes as well as Trauma Research Foundation’s mutually aligned projects. We strive to make our programming accessible to all, and we appreciate your donations as they give us the opportunity to provide scholarships to those in need.
Thank you!
