Now playing in New York (Cinema Village) and Los Angeles (Laemmle Monica), the documentray Our American Family centers on a Philadelphia family as they are dealing with generational substance abuse and addiction. Directed and produced by Hallee Adelman and Sean King O’Grady, Our American Family won the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature at the Woodstock Film Festival. Co-host Eric Holmes interviewed Adelman and O’Grady, and their interview is below.
Our American Family marks Hallee Adelman’s feature directing debut, as she is also a children’s book author. Teaming with Sean King O’Grady (director of the claustrophobic thriller We Need to Do Something), Adelman also had the advantage of personally knowing matriarch Linda Geraghty (mother), daughter Nicole Caltabiano, and the rest of the family before production.
“Nicole always said, she wanted to show the nitty gritty of addiction,” said Adelman. “But she didn’t mean drugs and needles. She meant what does it look like for a family to go through a hard struggle and have the hope and the fight to want to recover.”
Audio version of Eric Holmes’ interview with Hallee Adelman and Sean King O’Grady is up on Find Your Film:
Nicole’s recovery journey and frank discussions with her loved ones are a big part of the documentary. Linda’s attempts at dealing with her own personal traumas and self-admitted flaws as a mother are also covered with an even eye.
Listen to our Review of Our American Family:
“They were incredibly brave and vulnerable, and that is really the power of this film,” said O’Grady. “Is them being willing . . . when you enter recovery that is not necessarily when the battle ends. It’s just a new battle begins. They allowed us into their world as it was happening.”
Our American Family is now playing in New York and Los Angeles. On September 6 it will be available on VOD in U.S. and Canada.
Video version of the Our American Family:
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