23 February
5.30-7.00pm
RHB137a
Goldsmiths University of London
UK Premier Screening with Douglas Harper (Duquesne University) + Lyndsey Moon (University of Roehampton) in Discussion.
Chaired by Caroline Knowles (Goldsmiths).
“The Longest Journey Begins” is set in First Step Recovery, a half-way house near Pittsburgh, for men in active recovery from addictions to drugs and alcohol. Twenty-three residents normally reside at First Step for two years with ongoing programs that actively engage the men in the recovery process; it is far more than a residence. The film directors exposed more than thirty-six hours of footage for a final 33 minute film. The film focuses on several themes, such as institutional culture in the halfway house; the rhetorical patterns and strategies men in recovery rely on; the meaning of relapse; and the challenge of building a post-addiction life.
Prof. Douglas A. Harper (Duquesne University) is a visual sociologist. He co-founded the International Visual Sociology Association and is the author of numerous publications, including: Visual Sociology (2012); The Italian Way: Food and Social Life (2009) with Patrizia Faccioli; Hong Kong: Migrant Lives, Landscapes, and Journeys with Caroline Knowles; Good Company: A Tramp Life (1982) Changing Works (2001); Working Knowledge (1987). He has produced several photographic exhibitions and films too.
Dr. Lyndsey Moon is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Roehampton. She has extensive experience of being a counsellor for substance mis-use as well as difficulties related to sexuality and becoming ‘trans’. Her publications include: Counselling Ideologies: Queer Challenges to Heteronormativity and Feeling Queer or Queer Feelings. A moving written account by Moon of alcohol abuse by her late brother (Guy) was published in The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2009/jul/29/health-alcohol
