The new documentary "Running From Crazy" chronicles the life of actress Mariel Hemingway, the granddaughter of the great novelist Ernest Hemingway. The film focuses on Mariel's family history of mental illness, drug addiction, and the suicides of seven relatives, including her grandfather and her sister, Margaux. The film is directed by the two-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple, whose documentary "Harlan County U.S.A." has become a classic and won an Oscar in 1977.
Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman sat down with Mariel Hemingway and Barbara Kopple for an extended 45-minute interview at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.
"It's not just my story," Mariel says. "I think many people put on masks, and we play games, and we think that--and we try to act a certain way, because--because it's survival, because it's running from crazy. It's whatever it is. It's how you were brought up. It's that you don't want to get in trouble. I'm a--you know, there--I think we reenact our patterns until we can see those patterns."
Kopple says she hopes that the film will make a major impact in the lives of many. "We'd also like to have community groups and mental illness groups and people just get behind it and use it in a pivotal way, so that people are able to really, say, talk to each other. Don't be afraid. Don't keep this under the shadows. This is something we have to deal with."
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