FilmNewYork's blog

Friday, May 18-------Like most New Yorkers, Alan Berliner cannot quite get to sleep. The veteran documentarian uses this as his touchstone to explore his own insomnia and the effect it has on his family, in WIDE AWAKE, which will screen twice tomorrow at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center. The director, undoubtedly with bags under his eyes, will introduce the film at the 6:00pm screening. For the night owl crowd, there will be a second screening at 11:00pm. Following both screenings, Berliner and sleep expert Dr. Art Spielman will answer questions from the audience.

The film was produced for pay cable network Home Box Office, which will premiere the film for fellow insomniacs on Tuesday, May 22nd at 1:30am, in advance of its primetime debut on Wednesday, May 23, at 8:00 p.m. Berliner first presented the film at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and has been touring with it around the world. Clearly, international audiences relate to the spectacle of tossing and turning into the wee hours.

Berliner, who draws upon his personal obsessions and intimate relationships as subjects for his film essays, has suffered from insomnia all his life.  Despite a variety of remedies, including warm milk, hot baths, white noise and acupuncture, he simply cannot fall asleep at night.  He can often be found in his office in the middle of night cataloging his wide-ranging archive of photos, home movies, found objects and other ephemera he has collected over the past few decades. To learn more about the director's secret habits, log on to his website: www.alanberliner.com

After his son’s birth, Berliner realized that his condition would affect his family life.  WIDE AWAKE is the resulting chronicle and meditation on his search for a cure. Using his trademark collection of home movies, archival clips, found footage and other material, the director explores the reasons behind his insomnia, in hopes of getting the recommended 8-hours-a-night. With stories recently in the news about people cooking meals and even driving in their sleep, Berliner should consider himself lucky. 

For more information on the film, to purchase tickets or to find out about upcoming Film Society of Lincoln Center programs, visit their official website: www.filmlinc.com. Warning: films like this could keep you awake.

Sandy Mandelberger, Film New York Editor

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