Wrestling Ghosts is an intimate portrait of a young mother who over two heartbreaking and inspiring years battles the traumas from her past to create a new present and future for her and her family. Armed with knowledge and compassion, she pursues new strategies to heal herself, including online counseling, EFT “tapping” and Neurofeedback. Wrestling Ghosts provides audiences a rare opportunity to bear witness to the healing process.
At each and every screening we hear that seeing what healing looks like, up close, changes lives. And without fail we are asked “how can I show this movie to my mom, my sister, my friend, etc.” and we weren’t satisfied with the answer we could give them. Our focus has been community and educational screenings, but not everyone can organize a screening and we are committed to reaching as wide an audience as possible! As a result we have decided to lower the barrier to access and make Wrestling Ghosts available for home-viewing for as low as $7.99.
Community and educational screenings remain our priority simply because there are so many benefits in watching Wrestling Ghosts in community. With our free discussion guide, viewers have the opportunity to share and listen to one another's experiences, discuss content and ask questions to qualified professionals, and connect with service providers. Many school districts and organizations are using the movie for professional development. One of the benefits our partners have witnessed following a screening is the enthusiastic support or buy-in from their staff for trauma-informed initiatives, often the key to successful implementation. Our partners also report that Wrestling Ghosts brings home the importance of those involved in the lives of children and their care-givers to do their own healing work. Wrestling Ghosts and the resources on our site provide an opportunity for this to become center stage and for the viewers to get a sense of what healing looks like and what to do next.
Wrestling Ghosts has been successfully screened at K-12, university counseling centers, clinics, and staff training in a variety of not for profit and governmental agencies including child welfare agencies. We are self-distributing using a grassroots and activist model and licensing fees are supporting our efforts. Our licensing fees (starting at $150) are guidelines for sustainability but our commitment is to our partners and to making the movie available as a tool and resource to raise awareness and grow compassion. As a result, no screening requests will be turned away for budgetary reasons. So please reach out if you want to share Wrestling Ghosts with your staff, colleagues, students, or community.
We look forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback on the movie if you have a chance to watch.
With gratitude for the important work you do,
Ana Joanes
Ana Joanes is a documentary filmmaker dedicated to inspiring conscious action and systemic change through film. Her previous works include Generation Meds, an exploration of our fears and misgivings about mental illness and medication, and Fresh, which celebrates the farmers, thinkers and entrepreneurs who are reinventing our food system. Ana is the mother of three children, and with Wrestling Ghosts, she hopes to contribute to a shift toward a more compassionate world.
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