A one of a kind film festival centered on inspiration and hope. We are seeking films that deal with mental health, recovery, addiction. You don't have to be in recovery to reach someone who is. This is a fundraising event to support 2 local organization who work on behalf of the community.
Our Festival runs November 18th-20th 2022 at the Movies Of Lake Worth in Lake Worth, Fl. This 2 day festival highlights films that focus on sober living and recovery.

Best Short (less than 30min)
Best Documentary (any length)
Best Feature

Films should focus on inspiration and hope. Even through darkness we can find a message. All genres are welcome.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Faye Brenner

    Even though I could not attend the Festival in person, I am so grateful to Manny and the rest of the festival folks for picking my film “Promises” to be included. Addiction, homelessness, recovery of every kind, mental illness are all subjects that need to be publicly addressed. We all know someone who has gone through or is going through this. The more aware we are as a society the better for all.
    Thank you, Art of Recovery!

    November 2022
  • After learning about the mission of this festival and seeing the photos from previous years, I was so happy to have my film selected. Unfortunately, the experience was far away from what I had expected. The festival started late and had many technical problems. There were only about 10 people in the audience including 4 of us that traveled to be there to represent our films. There was no communication after the initial selection email and the festival didn’t know I had even traveled 14 hours to be there. At least my film was screened considering 2 of the 8 films were not. There was an event the night before in association with the festival that showcased one of the films and that was well attended. The film that was shown was produced by one of the festival’s staff and it seemed that all of the marketing efforts were put towards promoting that event and not the film festival itself. I wanted to be apart of the mental health initiatives, meet like-minded artists, and support a charitable cause, however, I did not see this at this festival. It is very unfortunate and maybe it was an off year but I spent a lot of money to be there and felt very let-down.

    November 2022
    16265889 413504825654952 1137685981218866447 n
    Response from festival:

    Dear, "Anonymous" we would first like to thank you for your submission; and secondly apologize that you had such an unpleasant experience at our festival. I feel it is only right to state the facts about what happened. You assert that there was no communication between you and the festival, when in fact there are several emails that went back and forth explaining our opening night the ability to attend, as well as changes you needed to be made to your film submission because of updates that you made. You mentioned that there was no information put out regarding the event when in fact we had an Eventbrite page several Facebook postings, newspaper, radio, and television coverage. At the opening festivities there were over 100 programs handed out which included a synopsis and poster of every film that we showed in the program. There were also slides that showed the same information that played on repeat throughout the night . In addition it is not outside of the scope of film festivals to premiere one film during their opening night which is what we did in our case. Regarding the showing of the films the theater had technical difficulties and was not able to play the film from the media requested. To that end we were able to facilitate playing the films, but it had to be through the website and the Film Freeway page. In any case the films were shown. Due to losing time with the technical difficulties we did have to indeed cut the program short by two films. What no Festival has any control over is the number of people in attendance. Your recollection is inaccurate as the festival creators were present for the showing. There were additional attendees that were not related to the festival who did show up. At no time did we express there was a four-day run for the festival to the contrary the majority of the films related to The Art of Recovery were relegated to one day. Again we're very sorry that you did not enjoy your experience. We will gladly wave a submission fee for any future projects that you may have. w thank you for your film and your time, and your review. We can learn from our shortcomings and aim to do better in the future. Finally, while there was some personal tragedy amongst the team, we did what any member would want and that is continue on so that we can continue to bring hope and inspiration to those that are sick and suffering. Thank you- the management team.

  • Oya Gökşin Babaoğlu

    We need more festivals like this!!!! So glad for my short film 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑫𝒐𝒘𝒏 to be officially selected and to be a part of this festival!

    November 2021
  • amazing its so so awesome to have a festival like this

    September 2021
  • Andrew Matthews

    A diverse representation of films regarding the wide topic of recovery from addiction. In addition off site activities that really support recovery in the community were great! I was welcomed into the community by the founder of the festival and all the staff!

    September 2021