“I knew as a young boy that addiction and alcoholism afflict people - good, loving people - in profound ways, and that some people - usually from those rare "normal" families that I longed for as a child and as an adult wonder if they even exist - didn't understand this and sort of looked down their noses at people suffering with addiction.” PeopleIfsWayChildrenYoungSufferingWonderBoysNormalAdultsProfoundAddictionNosesAlcoholismNormal Family Author:Brian Lindstrom
“I felt that if people understood the struggle of recovery, then some of the stigma of addiction might be reduced because the audience would understand in a palpable way that addiction is a disease that tells the afflicted, despite years or even decades of heartbreaking evidence to the contrary, that using will make things better.” PeopleIfsWayYearsMightFeltAudienceStruggleDiseaseUnderstoodEvidenceAddictionDecadesContraryRecoveryDespiteHeartbreakingStigma Author:Brian Lindstrom
“I think that most of us instinctively avoid people with mental illness.” PeopleThinkingIllnessMental Illness Author:Brian Lindstrom
“In the same way that we want to expand mental health service for people with mental illness, we also need to make sure that our police officers are getting the mental health help they need.” PeopleWayWantNeedsHelpingPoliceMental HealthIllnessMental IllnessOfficersPolice OfficerHealth Services Author:Brian Lindstrom
“I felt like any individual's recovery was more important than the film I was making. And I actually felt that my presence was a form of witness that communicated to the people I was following that their lives mattered.” PeopleImportantFilmFormIndividualFeltFollowingRecoveryWitness Author:Brian Lindstrom
“If the subject is no longer living, the immediate question is do you have enough first-person material to really get that story across. You'd like to avoid it just being other people's memories and interpretations.” PeopleIfsFirstsPersonsEnoughStoriesMemoriesSubjectsMaterialsInterpretationJust BeingFirst Person Author:Brian Lindstrom
“One thing people often forget when making a documentary is that, in a sense, you still have to cast, find a star, and it has all of those built-in challenges.” PeopleStillsStarsChallengesForgetOne ThingBuiltCastsDocumentaries Author:Brian Lindstrom
“The visual quality of the cameras now is such that you can shoot with available light, and if people are willing to mount a microphone on the camera and maybe even on the subject, then you're good to go.” PeopleIfsLightQualitySubjectsWillingCamerasAvailableVisualsMicrophones Author:Brian Lindstrom
“I think it would be really hypocritical of me to make the films I make, where I delve into people's lives, to say that my life can't be looked at or that I have to be this pristine, isolated figure.” PeopleThinkingWould BeFilmFiguresIsolatedHypocriticalPristine Author:Brian Lindstrom
