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“BOY INTERRUPTED” director, Dana Perry
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Friday, Jan. 16, 3:00 pm — Temple Theatre, Park City]
The story of my film, Boy Interrupted, was not affected much by recently changing digital technology. If anything, the film is a throwback to conventional documentary filmmaking; straightforward chronological storytelling – no tricks. Authenticity was our guide. The goal was to tell the story of my son Evan’s bipolar illness and suicide in as factual a manner as possible, with home movies and first-hand interviews bearing witness to our experience as a family.
I love the self-contained and mostly humorous videos I see on YouTube and Facebook and admire their makers. But the story of this film would never break down into that kind of bite-size delivery. It’s almost like the feature-length film is itself a mini-sketch of Evan’s life. That is, relative to the continuum of raising, loving, and losing Evan, the film can only capture a portion of the whole experience of his life and death. It is a portrait of family, illness, love and grief too complex to abbreviate.
