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This is one of those rare films that explores a range of topics - from the complex relationship between parents and their adult children to suicide. From athletic prowess to homelessness, from depression to recovery - with compassion, clarity and truth, all while not sensationalizing these issues nor presenting one-dimensional victims or villains. This film provides us with insight into the lives of all of us, as we walk alongside each other, living with and recovering from mental illness.
Robert Sheehan Chief Executive Officer Community Mental Health Association of Michigan
Winner of seven best feature awards at film festivals worldwide, Coming Up For Air is a timely look at the key role caregivers play helping those in need quickly access mental health resources.
Featured nationwide and abroad. Coming Up For Air has screened to large audiences at state community mental health conferences, suicide prevention conferences, in church basements, on college and high school campuses, at staff development events, in hospitals, libraries and community forums.
All our screenings are paired with local experts who show how caregivers quickly in help those in need . Physicians, mental health crisis team leaders, suicide prevention trainers, NAMI leaders, school counselors and, in some cases, students who do peer to peer counseling join these town hall discussions. We also do special events in advance of the film.
Have a look excerpts from one of our events in Lansing, Michigan here
In August our film was featured at the international Crisis Intervention Training workshop for law enforcement agencies. The heart of our message is that the vast majority of those who seek mental health care have successful outcomes.
A Q&A discussion gives audiences a chance to focus on specific local concerns. Following the meeting audience members receive timely referrals at information tables. Links to helpful resources including drug abuse prevention are also provided.
We believe providing mental health care to all who need it is a necessity. Anyone who needs an assessment or treatment should be able to get it immediately, no questions asked and stigma free. Cost should never be a barrier for anyone who needs care. Our special events focus on achieving this goal through a community partnership.
We will provide promotional materials you can customize, a press release, poster, graphics for social media, etc. We can also refer speakers to participate in the conversation including cast and crew and/or experts from the mental health field. Let us know if you have someone you'd like to feature for your community meeting. We can tailor your Coming Up For Air event to best fit your community needs.
Glenside Productions and the Heartland Independent Film Forum
SCHEDULE A COMING UP FOR AIR EVENT
“This is a powerful movie, great for conferences, professional counselors, crisis support staff and the general public.
I urge you to bring Coming Up For Air to Your Community.
-Sam Cochran CIT International Board of Directors.
Contact Producer Roger Rapoport at (231) 720-0930 (phone)/231 855-1438 (text) or rogerdrapoport@me.com
“Like any CEO or CMH board member that has been attending these conferences regularly for 20 years, I have heard a lot of presentations and speeches. It is very rare that I hear one and think….My community needs to see this/I have to do this. That was my recent experience with Roger Rapoport and Coming Up for Air. I called him the next morning. We had arrangements worked out within a day. I highly recommend it. ”
“The WMCMH Coming Up for Air event and community dialog provided a beautiful starting point for a compassionate discussion about the impact of mental health and mental illness on families, caregivers, and loved ones. Through movie clips, we were able to, without judgment, talk honestly and empathically together about the feelings parents, friends and siblings may have regarding the seemingly inexplicable behavior of the person they know and love who is coping with a mental illness. We discussed what is reasonable helping behavior that doesn’t dehumanize or threaten the dignity of the person who is struggling with their recovery but that also honors the fears and frustrations of the caregiver who wants to communicate their love and desire to help.”
About Coming Up For Air:
Running Time: 124 Minutes, Plays DVD, Blu-Ray, an MP 4 streaming link and a DCP hard drive for theaters. Plays as PG.
Log Line: A Mom Struggles to Find and Rescue Her Brilliant Son Spiraling Out of Control
Synopsis: When single mom Anna Russell, a ceramic artist, discovers that her son Stan, an outstanding college diver and academic star is unraveling, she must act quickly to avoid tragedy. In denial and mysteriously out of reach, Stan suddenly disappears. Anna must find him on a journey that highlights the key role caregivers play helping those in need survive a mental emergency and successfully recover. The film also focuses on the special challenges of balancing high stakes athletics with academic excellence.
Cast: Deborah Staples, Chase Yi, Kate Thomsen, Neil Brookshire, April Paul, Mark Corkins, Carrie Hitchcock, Judy Johnson and Doug Mancheski .
Director: Robert Cicchini won best director award at Golden State FIlm Festival
Partners: Rogers Behavioral Health, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, suicide prevention groups, colleges, school districts, churches, synagogues, behavioral health institutes, foundations, public radio, local television stations, medical centers and many other groups. This has been very successful in building audiences across the country.
Festivals: Coming Up For Air has won 20 film festival awards including seven best picture awards at festivals in California, Michigan, Arizona, Florida, West Virginia and India including the grand prize at the recent Culver City Film Festival. Deborah Staples has won five best actress awards.
(Pictured Above, Coming Up For Air student audience in Ironwood, Michigan, August 19, 2022)
“Artists often sense and convey emerging societal problems. I am not sure how I missed Coming Up For Air. Maybe you did too. It’s about a heroic mother and her son.The son’s psychiatrist coldly plays the HIPAA privacy rule to the letter of the law and closes off any conversation with the mother. I was sitting there wanting to shout out to the psychiatrist: “Come on, talk and listen to the mother. This is an emergency.”
“We see Stan’s health deteriorate and his growing fascination with guns almost exclusively from the viewpoint of his mother (Deborah Staples) – a good call from the director in several ways. Focusing on Anna’s actions allows Cicchini to use the conventions of the thriller/detective genre to set up a genuinely exciting tale of Anna’s discovery of her son’s burgeoning problems.”
“Every years festivals like ours receive thousands of submissions and only a small number are accepted. Within that group only a few stand out above the others. Coming Up For Air exhibited excellence in artistry and craftsmanship. Congratulations on receiving the Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature 2022.”