“Canvas” Offers Honest and Heart-Warming Portrayal of Schizophrenia

Film receives acclaim from Rep. Kennedy, mental health advocates

As mental health advocates, we’re all too aware of how often the entertainment industry insensitively, and incorrectly, depicts mental illnesses and the people who struggle with them. So it’s refreshing to recommend "Canvas," an award-winning film inspired by writer and director Joseph Greco’s experience as the child of a mother with schizophrenia.

Greco takes an authentic look at the challenges and triumphs of a family so profoundly affected by a serious mental illness.

Featuring Academy Award winner Marcia Gay Harden, Emmy Award winner Joe Pantoliano and 10-year-old newcomer Devon Gearhart, “Canvas” is a sensitive, poignant and balanced portrait of an ordinary family forced to confront the extraordinary reality of schizophrenia. The film also features artwork from the 9 Muses Art Center run by the MHA of Broward County, Fla. “ Canvas,” which premiered at the Hamptons International Film Festival, has been hailed by critics and audiences, including mental health advocate Rep. Patrick Kennedy, who called it a “beautiful and powerful story.”

In a letter he wrote to Greco, Kennedy urged the general public to see it, so they can understand “the toll mental illness can take on a family, while always having hope that better days lie ahead.”

The Hampton International Film Festival said, "'Canvas' trades on small moments when hope alternates with frustration and love overcomes embarrassment. … Writer-director Joseph Greco pulls back on the emotional reins to underscore his points and in return receives perfectly calibrated performances from his three leads.”

The film has won several awards, including Best Feature Film at the Sedona Film Festival, and Audience Awards at the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival and Sarasota Film Festival.

" Canvas" was screened at Mental Health America’s 2007 Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. For his efforts, Greco was honored at the conference with a Mental Health America forWARD, which are given each year to recognize the people, actions and events that move the cause of mental health forward.

The movie opens in New York City and Chicago on Oct. 12, and in Los Angeles, Phoenix and Fort Lauderdale on Oct. 19. Learn more about the film at http://www.canvasthefilm.com.