Sag Harbor Cinema’s
LIGHTHOUSE PROJECT
A year-round film and discussion series that illuminates mental health awareness, advocacy and action. Sag Harbor Cinema’s Lighthouse Project is free and open to the public and offers equitable access to mental health information with expert-led panel discussions. Its goal is to demystify, to destigmatize, and to promote knowledge about mental disorders, and to disseminate information about their treatment using film as an entry point for discussion.
The Lighthouse Project is kindly sponsored by the Florin Smith Family.
Screening: Half Nelson (2006, Ryan Fleck)
Sunday June 22, 11am – 2pm
The second Lighthouse series event will take place on Sunday, June 22, from 11am-2pm, at Sag Harbor Cinema, and will focus on addiction and recovery. This event is free to the public, but registration will be required due to limited seating capacity. Sag Harbor Cinema will screen Ryan Fleck’s Half Nelson (2006) from 11am-12:30pm. The film stars Ryan Gosling (who earned his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his performance) alongside Shareeka Epps and Anthony Mackie. Attendees should be advised that the film features substance abuse, and has depictions of adolescent drug trafficking.
After the film, there will be a panel discussion about the nature and manifestations of addiction and recovery. Dr. Jeffrey Reynolds and Dr. Jaclene Jason will be featured panelists. Dr. Reynolds is President/CEO of Long Island’s Family and Children’s Association (FCA), and previously served as Executive Director of the Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (LICADD). Dr. Jason is a clinical psychologist and senior director of Behavioral Health and Addiction Services at Northwell Health’s South Oaks Hospital. Minerva Perez, Sag Harbor Cinema Board Member and Executive Director of OLA of Eastern Long Island, will moderate the discussion and the Q&A that follows.
About the Film:
Dan Dunne (Ryan Gosling) is a history teacher at a Brooklyn school. Though well-liked by his students and colleagues, he secretly spends his evenings hopping bars and getting high. A female student named Drey (Shareeka Epps) catches him in a drug-induced haze after a basketball game, and the two strike up an unlikely friendship. As Dan struggles with his addiction, he tries to act as a mentor to the girl, whose brother is serving time for dealing drugs, having taken the fall for Frank (Anthony Mackie), a drug dealer who is also trying to ensnare the young Drey.