Completed in April 2013 TRT: 1 hour, 15 minutes HD
Website, trailer, and downloadable press kit: www.aliveandwellthefilm.com
Press & Publicity Contact Beth O’Brien Vandenberg communications [email protected]
Currently seeking distribution.
ALIVE & WELL is a documentary film that illuminates the courage and strength of people coming to terms with the reality of living with Hun ngton's Disease.
ALIVE & WELL is a moving documentary film about the human condi on, which follows seven resilient people coming to terms with the profound reality of living with the hereditary chronic illness known as Hun ngton's Disease (HD).
Subjects in the film range from a young women hoping to start a family , to a mother taking care of her symptoma c 6 year-old son and ailing husband; the drummer of a major country music band, a former NBC News journalist turned HD-advocate, as well as a renowned scien st relentlessly searching for a cure.
Far from giving us a hopeless glimpse into life with terminal illness, ALIVE & WELL reminds us all of our ability to persevere with strength, despite life's most difficult challenges.
HUNTINGTON’S DISEASE (HD) is a devasta ng, hereditary, degenera ve brain disorder for which there is, at present, no effec ve treatment or cure. HD slowly diminishes the affected individual's ability to walk, think, talk and reason. Onset of HD has occurred in people from birth to 80 years of age. A er onset, individuals experience 15 – 20 years of slow, painful mental and physical deteriora on.
Each child of an affected parent has a 50/50 risk of inheri ng the gene c muta on that causes Hun ngton's Disease.
For more informa on about HD: www.hdsa.org www.hdfounda on.org
ALIVE & WELL
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
When I met Liz Weber she was on fire. A woman on a mission who was about to marry my best friend of 40 years. I knew she was something special. At the wedding recep on, I met her family and learned that they were living through a very intense journey.
Liz's mother, Mary had Hun ngton's Disease (HD), a disease I knew nothing about. Liz had grown up dealing with the repercussions of the illness, and was now learning all she could about it, in order to be er navigate its devasta ng effects for herself and her family.
As she learned, my partner and I, Cindy Gantz, also learned. Liz wanted to do everything she could to help families, research endeavors and raise awareness about Hun ngton's Disease in new and powerful ways. My partner, Cindy Gantz, and I wanted to use our film experience to help in any way we could.
First, there was the thaw Fashion Show. Liz put together an annual local fashion show that would raise money for Hun ngton's Disease. She asked us to help her with ligh ng and staging. We did.
Then she decided to put together an event in honor of Woody Guthrie -- who had Hun ngton's Disease -- in associa on with HDSA in NYC. She asked us to film it. We did.
At the Guthrie event, we interviewed several people that were affected by HD. The stories that we heard were incredible, moving and deep on so many levels. Stories of the ravages of Hun ngton's to be sure, but also stories of resilience, hope, tragedy, courage, passion and perseverance.
What we wanted at that me was something that didn’t exist. We wanted a way to share these very personal stories with compassion, strength and beauty. We wanted to create a solid tool for the community to share their stories and to be proud of. We did.
There are many reasons that awareness of Hun ngton's Disease hasn't become mainstream. Typically, the only people who know about Hun ngton's Disease are those that have a family member or a friend whose life has be affected. But really, its everywhere. All around the world Hun ngton's Disease is alive and well.
We made this film to honor the people who trusted us with their stories, to have this film seen by as many people as possible and to raise awareness of Hun ngton's Disease.
Alive & Well is dedicated to Mary Weber.
ALIVE & WELL STORIES
HEATHER ALIMOSSY is a 19 year-old young woman who has tested posi ve for the Hun ngton’s Disease gene c muta on. She does not show any signs of symptoms, but she is currently watching her mother and brother deteriorate from its effects. We follow Heather as she takes advantage of every minute she has to live her life before the disease takes over.
CHARLES SABINE is a former NBC news war correspondent. A er surviving life-threatening warfare in Baghdad, he returned home to discover that he had inherited the HD gene muta on from his father. At the age of 42, he le his TV career to work ceaselessly on spreading worldwide awareness of Hun ngton's Disease.
KATY BRADLEY is a loving mom, wife, daughter, sister and friend. She is also the caregiver to her husband Sco and their son Ma hew, who was in the advanced stages of Juvenile Hun ngton’s Disease during this shoot. In ALIVE & WELL we spend one-week in the life of the Bradley’s.
ALIVE & WELL STORIES
COURTNEY RIFKIN shares the story of her family’s ba le with Hun ngton’s Disease as she leads the Klimb for a Kure, an expedi on up Mt. Kilimanjaro, to raise money and awareness for HD research. Through this journey, Courtney is joined by a team of twelve others, many of whom are also affected by the disease that claimed her father’s life.
MANDY KIPFER is a young wife who is ready to start a family. Before becoming pregnant, Mandy decided it was me to take the gene c test that would determine whether she had inherited the HD gene muta on from her father. We follow Mandy through the tes ng process and join her when she receives her results.
TREY GRAY is the drummer of famed country band Brooks and Dunn. Showing early signs of Hun ngton’s Disease, he con nues to tour and play music, hoping to stay posi ve and use his connec ons to raise awareness of HD. This film joins Trey and the band on their farewell tour.
DR. MICHAEL HAYDEN is a Killam professor of Medical Gene cs at the University of Bri sh Columbia (UBC), best known for his research in Hun ngton’s Disease. As the director of the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeu cs at UBC, he oversaw the first lab to cure HD in a mouse.
Dr. Hayden was recently appointed as the President of R&D and Chief Scien fic Officer at Teva Pharmaceu cal Industries in Petah Tikva, Israel. We follow him as he relentlessly searches for a cure.
ALIVE & WELL DIRECTOR - Josh Ta
JOSH TAFT is a Sea le-based director. He has directed numerous award winning commercials and global campaigns for Nike, Adidas, Coca Cola, Nissan, Gatorade and many others.
Josh has created TV shows for MLS, ESPN and Fox Sports. He has filmed in more than 60 countries and he is a graduate of NYU Film School. Josh’s career began as a pioneer in the early years of MTV. He has directed music videos for Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Cypress Hill and Tribe Called Quest.
He has won awards for his work from MTV, The Clio’s and Billboard Magazine, as well as the coveted Cannes Golden Lion. Recently, he is proud to have completed Alive & Well: a feature length documentary about Hun ngton’s Disease. Currently, Josh is at work on an interna onal soccer film highligh ng the extraordinary and passionate fana cism that is sure to be demonstrated at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
PRODUCER - Kate Bayley
KATE BAYLEY is a Sea le-based actor and producer. A graduate of Atlan c Ac ng Conservatory, her produc on credits include Your Sister's Sister and a series of fund-raising films for non-profit organiza ons, including HDSA, Stewardship Partners, CCFA and The Bezos Family Founda on. Kate produced and starred in the short-film, Down the Shore.
Addi onal on-film appearances include Transamerica, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, NYC Serenade and The Off Hours.
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY – Tadd Sackville-West
TADD SACKVILE-WEST started his film career shoo ng outdoor s ll photography for commercial snowboard and skateboard publica ons. His focus evolved into mo on film and he made the transi on to shoo ng snowboarding movies. From there, he followed a path to a career in documentary and commercial film work.
Commercial credits include campaigns for Nike, Cadillac, Jeep, Old Navy, Rainer Beer. Tadd is the Director of Photography on the Marco Collins documentary and two other documentary films currently in produc on.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS - Liz Weber & Cindy Gantz
LIZ WEBER is a Sea le-based entrepreneur, restauranteur and philanthropist. She is the co- owner of Caffe Vita Coffee Roas ng Company, Via Tribunali Pizzeria, Cornuto, The Wandering Goose, Vello Foods, Pike Street Fish Fry, Lil’ Woody’s Burgers & Shakes and Sea le Boxing Gym. Her philanthropic endeavors have covered a wide variety of social and environmental subjects.
Liz leverages her work by developing las ng partnerships between her businesses and the non-profit organiza ons she supports, including Stewardship Partners, The Service Board, HDSA, Atlan c Street Center, The Vera Project, Woodland Park Zoo, Hollywood Sunset Free Clinic and CoachArt. . Liz was born with a 50/50 risk of inheri ng the HD gene muta on from her mother. She tested nega ve in 2006. While wai ng for her test results, she joined the board and became president of the NW Chapter of HDSA. Since then, she has produced 20+ events related to HD awareness and raised over $400,000 for HD research.
CINDY GANTZ is a Filmmaker, Ar st and Entrepreneur. She is currently a Director and Board Member of Full Circle Biochar, a proprietary carbon draw-down technology company serving major agricultural markets, which was recently honored as one of ten Virgin Earth Challenge Pioneers.
Cindy is the Co-Founder and Crea ve Director of Dropping Knowledge (DK), an interna onal social art and media pla orm that curates physical and virtual roundtables -- bringing together great minds in the fields of arts, science and business -- to discuss solu ons to some of the world's most pressing challenges.
In addi on, Cindy has had a diverse, 20+ year career in film, art and design. She is a co-founder Cowboy of Films. Ini ally working locally on music videos and commercials, she then went on to work on global-campaigns and documentaries for Nike, Microso , Coca Cola and Eve Ensler's V-DAY.
SOUNDTRACK
ORIGINAL SCORE composed by Saunder Stenfert Jurriaans and Daniel Charles Bensi. As mul -instrumentalists and classically trained musicians, they began their film scoring career with Alistair Banks Griffin's "Two Gates of Sleep" (Cannes - Director's Fortnight, 2010), and have since moved on to score various features and shorts including: "Martha Marcy May Marlene" (Sundance, 2011 - winner best director, Cannes - Official Selec on, 2011). "Play" (Cannes - Director's Fortnight, 2011) and "The Amish" (PBS / American Experience, nominated for 2012 Emmy Award), "Simon Killer" (Official Selec on - Sundance 2012)
For 2013, they scored “Magic Magic" (Sundance 2013, Cannes - Director's Fortnight 2013), "Bluebird" (Tribeca Film Fes val 2013 - Opening night), "Burma" (SXSW 2013 - Winner Special Jury Award), "William And The Windmill" (SXSW 2013 - Winner Grand Jury Award)
Currently they are finishing work on "An Enemy" Denis Villeneuve's adapta on of Jose Saramago's novel "The Double". Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Melanie Laurent, Sarah Gadon and Isabella Rossellini.
Addi onal music contributed by:
ALIVE & WELL KEY PRODUCTION CREDITS
Director Josh Ta Producer Kate Bayley Associate Producer Donovan Greene Execu ve Producers Valerie and David Robinson Annie Croco Claire Bigbie Stone Gossard Cindy Gantz Liz Weber Director of Photography Tadd Sackville-West Editor Chris Perkel Original Music Danny Bensi Saunder Jurriaans Addi onal Music Fleet Foxes Pearl Jam Radiohead Sigur Ros Addi onal Camera Operators Chris Bo oms Don Davis Donovan Greene Mike Ozier Assistant Camera Joel Phillips Post Produc on Supervisor Mel Eslyn Addi onal Edi ng Tadd Sackville-West Donovan Greene Duncan Sharp Assistant Editor Adi Cabig ng Sound Design Eric Fisher Color Correc on and Mastering Lightpress, Inc. Titling and Graphics The Academy Legal Services Provided by Lance Rosen, Rosen Lewis, PLLC Accoun ng Services John Shafer Supply and Demand Integrated Tim Case Charles V Salice Kira Carstensen Trailer Edi ng and Poster Design Jus n Henning
ALIVE & WELL