The Reel Recovery Film Festival begins Tuesday

Is recovery coming out of the closet? Last week, the Texas Rangers baseball players celebrated their league championship by spraying each other with ginger ale instead of the traditional Champagne bath out of respect for their teammate and star Josh Hamilton, who has led a very public battle and recovery from substance abuse. On Tuesday, Hollywood will do its part to promote the honor of recovery by staging its second Reel Recovery Film Festival.

The inaugural festival last year featured Ben Stiller and Jerry Stahl’s discussion of the film “Permanent Midnight.” This year’s festival, which runs from Oct. 26-30, will open with an anniversary screening of “The Honour of All,” a film about the Alkali Lake Indian Tribe in British Columbia that had almost population-wide alcoholism but achieved an 80% sobriety rate.

Screenings and discussions will take place at the Arena Stage theater, 1625 N. Las Palmas Ave., Hollywood. The agenda can be found on the Reel Recovery Web page. The festival, which is free and open to the public, is organized by Writers in Treatment, a nonprofit group that promotes treatment for addiction, alcoholism and other self-destructive behaviors and “works to bring recovery out of the closet now and forever.”

-- Shari Roan / Los Angeles Times

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