HBO Features Drs. Dement, Rosekind, Simon, Speilman, Kayumov in Documentary “Wide Awake”
You won’t want to miss several Sleep Community luminaries in Wide Awake: Portrait Of An Artist As Insomniac, an HBO Documentary that premieres Wednesday, May 23 at 8pm Eastern Time, with a special "Insomniac Premiere" on Tuesday, May 22 at 1:30am. Eastern Time.
Wide Awake is a brutally honest self-portrait of a sleep-deprived and sleep-obsessed night-owl filmmaker, Alan Berliner's personal tour through a lifelong obsession with insomnia. In the spirit of his acclaimed personal documentary films, Berliner once again uses his own life as a laboratory, this time to illuminate how a restless mind that won't shut down at night leaves him feeling "jet lagged in my own time zone."
Among the experts who share their knowledge in Wide Awake are: William C. Dement, MD, PhD, Director, Sleep Disorder Clinic and Research Center at Stanford University; Leonid Kayumov, PhD, Director, Sleep Neuropsychiatry Institute at the University of Toronto; Mark Rosekind, PhD, President & Chief Scientist, Alertness Solutions; Richard D. Simon Jr., MD, Medical Director, Kathryn Severyns Dement Sleep Disorders Center; and Art Spielman, PhD, Associate Director, Center for Sleep Medicine, Weill Medical College at NY Presbyterian Hospital- Cornell University.
A brilliantly edited blend of the hilarious and deeply personal, Wide Awake weaves hundreds of archival film clips, consultations with sleep specialists, an overnight stay at a sleep lab, conversations with family members, home movies, dream visualizations, and behind the scenes footage of the film being made. Torn between the creative passion he derives from the night, and the emotional tugs of love and family life, only the birth of his first child can get Berliner to “consider joining the day shift.”
Wide Awake received its world premiere at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, and its international premiere at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival. Berliner's previous films include The Sweetest Sound (2001), Nobody's Business (1996), Intimate Stranger (1991) and The Family Album (1986). You can own the film for $24.98 by visiting the HBO Store. A preview of the 90-minute film Wide Awake may be viewed at the Edinburgh International Film Festival site.
Be well, Sleep well,
Theresa
