Spiraling: Capturing Elements of Addiction and Loss with a Film Screening of the Short Film Brother

Joanna Rudnick, Discussant Mary Tennes

Friday Apr 14, 6:30 PM – 8:45 PM

The poignant animated documentary short, Brother, by award-winning filmmaker Joanna Rudnick, tells the story of her brother’s opioid addiction as both a search for answers and an expression of sibling love. At the most explicit level, the film address not only the tragedy of addiction but also the issues of marginalization that seem to both fuel and perpetuate addictive processes and is an urgent call for an expanded understanding of this pervasive and collective problem. Moreover, in its poetic, dream-like complexity, the film invites the viewer to enter into an experience; one does not watch it without being moved, and its themes are both particular and universal. We will view the 15 minute film together, hear from the filmmaker about her experience of making it followed by a discussion from Mary Tennes and will have ample time afterwards for group conversation.

CE Credits offered: 2

Course Objectives

After completing this course participants will be able to:

1. Discuss the way in which the film explores the traumatic sources of addiction.
2. Understand how animation in particular, like a dream, may facilitate an exploration of the unconscious.
3. Participants will identify the link between Winnicott’s concept of psyche-soma and drug addiction.

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