Rogers Behavioral Health to be featured at “Coming Up For Air” West Coast premiere

Posted on 12/02/19 12:42:pm

(Los Angeles, Calif.) – Coming Up for Air, an award-winning feature drama focusing on the impact of Mental Health on Families, premieres Sunday, December 8 at the Culver City Film Festival in Los Angeles. 

Led by Rogers Behavioral Health, a panel discussion after the noon screening will focus on the key role caregivers play in helping those in need receive the timely treatment they need.

This west coast premiere event is set for:

           Noon on Sunday, December 8  

           Cinemark 18 at the Howard Hughes Center, 6081 Center Drive, L.A.  

The winner of nine awards at American and international film festivals, Coming Up For Air has been praised by mental health and suicide prevention groups as a relatable and believable drama touching families everywhere.  

This Robert Cicchini directed film, with breakout performances by Deborah Staples and Yi, is launching a national conversation about the significant role caregivers play in helping friends, colleagues, family and lovers find recovery from mental illness. The myCinema nationally distributed film has screened across the country to impressive audiences.

Coming Up for Air tells the story of ceramic artist Anna Russell and her son Stan, a straight A college student and diving champion who is seeking an spot on the men’s 10m Olympic diving team. The pressure and stress to succeed in his high-stakes athletic competition while maintaining good grades and a social life begin taking their toll. Stan starts to unravel, quits the team, and disappears.  It’s up to his mother to track him down and bring him back to wellness. The film takes audiences on an all-too-common journey, highlighting the pressures that are put upon teenagers to succeed and on parents to cope.

Filmed on location across Michigan and Wisconsin, the film has won eight honors including best picture, best director, best lead actress and actor and best editor at the recent I See You Awards in Detroit.  It is also an official selection at festivals in Italy, India, Russia, New York and Miami.

Coming Up For Air has been hailed and recommended by Common Sense Media as an “endearing story” that will touch the hearts of families everywhere: “Deborah Staples stands out.  Her maternal plight will be relatable to audiences with older teens or kids away at college and will feel similarly realistic to 18-to 22-year-olds doing their best to handle living on their own and life as an adult.”

Director Cicchini, a veteran film (Godfather III), television, (The Morning Show) and stage actor, who previously directed and starred in producer/coscreenwriter Rapoport’s award-winning feature Waterwalk, says:

“This very topical new film will inspire empathy and awareness of the complexities of personal responsibility. It addresses how crises that may lead to tragedy can be de-escalated and creates an appreciation of how families can promote wellness. It will also support community discussions of the real conditions and biases toward effective mental health treatment.”

 

The film’s trailer is at https://vimeo.com/356881427.  More details at comingupforairmovie.com.