News
Film explores addiction from a new slant
Published in the March 12th issue of the Chico Enterprise Record
By STEVE BROWN - Staff Writer
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Film explores the power of addiction
Published in the March 5th issue of the Chico Enterprise Record
By STEVE BROWN - Staff Writer
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Addiction Comes in Waves;
New Documentary by Chico Filmmaker Explores Addiction
Published in the November/December issue of
Lotus Guide Magazine
(view PDF)
by Susan Dobra
What do we really know about addiction? We know that it comes with many faces, that it takes many forms. We know that has no regard for age, class, race, or gender. We know that it gobbles up lives.
But there is much that we don’t know about addiction, and many misconceptions. That’s why local filmmaker Jody McNicholas decided to make her first documentary about the human face of addiction, The film, called A Wave of Compassion, is an intriguing and honest exploration of the effects addiction has on the lives of real people, some of whom come from right here in Chico. It includes flashes of insight from a diverse range of experts in addiction as well, including a Yaqui shaman, a spiritual counselor at a Hawaii state prison, and a stand-up comedian. Some of those experts, such as nutrition specialist Donald Payne and Dr. Kelley Otani, medical director at Enloe Rehabilitation Hospital, are also Chicoans. Each brings a unique perspective to this powerful film.
At the center of the film is Jimmy, a 41-year-old surfer who has been drinking since the age of 13. He has tried almost every form of treatment there is, so far with little success. His honesty sets the tone for the film, and the resilience of his addiction sets its challenge. One of the film’s real strengths is that it explores the many problems around addiction rather than trying to offer a single solution.
Jody McNicholas has herself been sober for 20 years. After getting her fine arts degree from USC, where she won awards for her photography and paintings, she took up a variety of pursuits, including graduating from the Boulder School of Massage Therapy, taking a two-year Sacred Contracts class with best-selling author Caroline Myss, and working in a treatment center for anorexia and bulimia, teaching art therapeutically to the patients there.
Addiction has always been at the center of her interest. It was the subject of the photography show at USC that got her a scholarship. It was the focus of her art-therapy work. And it is her specialty in the Sacred Contracts workshops she now teaches in Chico and in her private teaching practice.
Inspired by her friend and local KZFR personality Theo Badasci, Jody learned about filmmaking by doing it. She’s appreciated the help and expertise of local sound engineer Dale Price, of Electric
Canyon Studios, who is doing the editing and sound design. Price also worked with singer/songwriter John-Michael Sun as well as flutist Sirena Squires—both from Chico—on the music for the film’s emotionally rich soundtrack.
What does she hope the film will do? “I’m hoping that it will help change people’s perceptions about addiction—the judgment, the ‘shadow’ side,” says McNicholas. “The life of an alcoholic or addict is an arduous journey, and exploring this path, we can perhaps find ways for each of us to free the hold that addiction has and bring compassion to ourselves and others.”
Jody McNicholas is passionate about wanting A Wave of Compassion to spark new conversations and new attitudes toward addiction and its treatment. Most of all, she wants the film to have a healing effect. “Sending someone good, loving thoughts can shift consciousness. I think that’s the best of what A Wave of Compassion can do.”
Look for it soon in a theater near you!
Contact Jody McNicholas at info@awaveofcompassion.com
An Interview with Jody McNicholas
Published in the March/April issue of Lotus Guide Magazine
( view PDF)LG: What inspired you to make this documentary?
JM: Addiction is a complex issue, and my desire to make a difference in the field of addiction is something that I need to do … I am driven to do! I did not know that this passion would manifest into a film. That never crossed my mind. It developed into a film over time. The journey of addiction is different for every individual, which means that we need to expand our ideas on what treatment might look like. One size does not fit all. A Wave of Compassion is a film that honors the addict’s journey. This film is just a small piece of a complex matrix on understanding addiction.
LG: Huge changes don’t happen all of a sudden anyway. Huge changes happen incrementally. Sometimes they’re really subtle, so subtle you don’t realize they’ve been made until you look backward. Is there a common denominator to all the people who are in the documentary?
JM: I think every single one of them is a seeker.
LG: I agree. Every single one of them is seeking something greater than themselves. Everybody is looking at the bigger picture. The only people who are having problems are the people who are not seeking and not looking for something deeper, somehow, some way— through shamanism, philosophy, medical, therapeutic techniques, approaches, something. They’re seekers. And I think that’s probably one of the things that helps all of us in life: to keep on looking.
JM: [Editor’s note: Rahasya Poe, who is doing the interview, appears in the film]. I love your line in the film, “So why not?” Why not take drugs? What have we found to replace the drugs? These two words, “Why not?” seem to make emotion flare in viewers. How do we cope and manage and reawaken the ecstasy of life without drugs? As Alan Clements says, “Addiction may well be a sane response to an insane world.”
LG: Yes, and the people who didn’t get me saying, “Why not?” are, I guarantee you, the same people who have never sat down and listened to a kid who asks, “Why do you take drugs?” No one listens to the answer, because if you really listen, you can sort of say, “Yeah, really, why not take drugs?” Because they’re talking about a world that’s completely disposable, a world that’s getting ready to be blown up at any time, a world where we have enough atomic bombs to blow this planet up 2,500 times over, and we’re still making more atomic bombs. And we’re trying to tell them, “Hey, come to your senses here.” “What? What do you mean, come to our senses? You’ve created a world that’s complete insanity.” And it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that all the policies and governments and political regimes and religions and everything else are crumbling right before our very eyes. So they say, “Why not?” And you had better have an answer, because if you don’t have an answer to “Why not?” you and they both have a problem.
JM: How do we make the ordinary extraordinary? What do I get in return if I give up the booze and the drugs? How do we reawaken the ecstasy of life without drugs?! I believe that the ecstasy is here right now; we just have to remember how to tap into it. And there are so many distractions from tapping in. We are inundated with messages that cast spells on us to conform, and that very thing takes us away from what we are really seeking. I believe film is a great medium for awakening or putting us to sleep. I have just recently started taking film classes at Butte College, and one young student in the class sat down next to me and said that he had watched the film What the Bleep Do We Know? He asked if I believed if that movie was for real, because if it is, then this changes everything. That moment was total elation for me because that film made him think about life in a new way and I could tell that this young man was excited about exploring new ideas. That is powerful!
LG: What is your answer to “Why not?”
JM: I think, for me, one of the things I’ve noticed about addicts is that we’re all very sensitive and that’s what I loved about the Indigo Evolution movie the other night. It was so validating. And when you’re told from a young age that you’re too sensitive to everything, it can feel like a curse. I remember when I first got sober, my coworker said, “Oh, you’re just one of those sensitive people; you’re going to be like that your whole life.” And I thought, “My God, if I’m always this sensitive, I will never survive on this planet.” Twenty years later I can still feel the impact that one sentence had on me, the fright it caused me. Now I feel like my sensitivity is a gift, not a curse, because I started believing more in myself and less in what the outside world was telling me.
I was driving to Butte College; it is a beautiful ride. And there’s this tree sitting on this knoll, and I am in tears, I’m overwhelmed by the beauty of this tree. The same sensitivity that I used to use drugs to numb out is the same sensitivity that now gives me joy. I don’t think I could have made, or started this film, without answering your question, “Why not?” for myself.
LG: What was it that helped you look at your sensitivity through new eyes? Was there a turning point or did it happen over time?
JM: It was a process. I tried to manage it, mask it, but it wasn’t until marrying Beau that I was able to embrace more parts of myself. He’s the first man who didn’t try to push me into a direction that was more mainstream or ordinary. I believe it was that unconditional support and love of Beau, who didn’t think that these things were strange, who also felt they were a gift. I’ve never had that before.
LG: Beautiful. That’s beautiful and very sweet.