MICHAEL AND DAMIAN PRESS KIT
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A passionate advocate for recovery attempts to help an aspiring spiritual healer dealing with addiction and the stresses of homelessness, while also confronting the buried traumas of his own past.
SYNOPSIS
Michael is a passionate advocate for recovery fueled by decades of lived experience. Damian is an aspiring comic, musician, and spiritual healer battling addiction and the stresses of homelessness. Together, they struggle to overcome their demons and live lives of creativity, compassion and connection. Filmed over four years, this extremely intimate documentary aims to change the way audiences view those struggling with substance use disorder, mental health challenges, and homelessness. Character-driven and radically compassionate, it is a story of perseverance and the will to find enduring happiness despite one's circumstances.
DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHY
Gabe Van Lelyveld is a visual storyteller working primarily in documentary and commercial film. His 2013 Narrative feature, Mandarose, which he Co-wrote, Directed, Edited and Produced, screened at six film festivals in the U.S. and abroad, and won the Audience Choice Award for Best Narrative Feature at the NW Filmmaker’s Festival that year. He is also the Co-writer and Editor of Dark and Tender (2024), an award-winning short documentary that has screened at six film festivals.
Van Lelyveld’s film projects focus on interpersonal relationships, social justice, resilience, and service. He finds participants wrestling with these and other themes, and attempts to tell their stories in an unobtrusive, observational style that allows audiences space for self-reflection and drawing their own conclusions. He resides in Port Townsend, Washington, where he owns and operates Whaleheart Productions, a video production company serving the Olympic Peninsula.