BROWN COUNTY, Ind. — “Nearly every family, classroom, and workplace in Brown County feels the devastating ripple effects of heroin, meth, and opioid addiction,” that’s how the documentary “The Addict’s Wake,” describes the story of addiction in Brown County.
“It’s really a war going on,” said Executive Producer Amy Pauszek. “It’s just not down in Brown County, it’s across the nation.”
“The Addict’s Wake,” will premiere at the Heartland Film Festival on Oct. 11.
The documentary follows the stories of many in the community who have struggled with addictions or witnessed their family and friends struggle with addiction.
Executive Producer Lisa Hall told WIBC’s Terri Stacy about Cole, who is still in active addiction and currently detoxing.
“You can see the pain that it causes the community, the family, Cole’s friends. He lost his wife and children, and you’ll see all this in the film.”
Hall said after graduate school she began serving in the Brown County jail, and that’s when she started hearing these stories about women who had lives like her’s. She said they had careers, kids, homes, but when they hit a tough spot in their life they experimented with highly addictive drugs, and the stories were heartbreaking.
She said the pandemic also hasn’t helped people struggling with addiction.
“We saw a lot of people out of recovery and relapse during this pandemic,” she said. “In this county alone we’ve had more fatal overdoses than in 2017, which really piqued our interest to do this film.”
“The Addict’s Wake,” will be shown in two different venues. Oct. 11 you can watch it in Newfields’ Toby Theater. Oct. 15 you can see it at The Living Room Theater in the Bottleworks Building.
