From the Vault: A Hero’s Journey Gets an Encore - OC87 Recovery Diaries

From the Vault: A Hero’s Journey Gets an Encore

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At OC87 Recovery Diaries, we are immensely proud of the volume and quality of films we have produced, along with our filmmaking partner, FreshFly, over the years. For those of you who may be relatively new to OC87 Recovery Diaries, we realized that you might not yet have been introduced to some of the wonderful films and beautiful human beings from our past, so, this month (and at varying times in the future) we’re reaching into the “OC87 Recovery Diaries Vault” for an older film of ours for you to enjoy.

This month, we are proud to introduce (or re-introduce) you to Ed Kozempel and his touching, inspiring film, “A Hero’s Life.” Ed, who lives with paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, often compares his mental health recovery journey to a battle and, indeed, Ed has fought hard for himself and his mental and physical health. The flute is something that has helped him to keep going, and “A Hero’s Life” is a heartfelt tribute to Ed’s indomitable spirit, and an ode to the power of music.

Please enjoy “A Hero’s Life” and subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss a single, moving mental health documentary film.

 

EDITOR IN CHIEF: Gabriel Nathan | EDITOR: Glenn Holsten | DESIGN: Leah Alexandra Goldstein | PUBLISHER: Bud Clayman

Glenn is an award-winning director who loves to create compelling documentary story experiences of all lengths for screens of all sizes. He is an avid reader, studied literature in college, and his passion for stories with strong characters and interesting narratives stems from those years. His career as a visual storyteller began at WHYY (the public television station in Philadelphia) where he worked for 15 years before becoming an independent filmmaker. In addition to his PBS documentaries about arts and culture, he has directed films about justice and human rights, and now, mental health. He was emboldened to undertake his current documentary project, Hollywood Beauty Salon, a colorful feature-length documentary about surviving mental illness and finding the courage for recovery, after his transformative experience directing OC87: The Obsessive Compulsive, Major Depression, Bipolar, Asperger’s Movie, along with Bud Clayman and Scott Johnston.