Robin Williams Tribute, Brilliant Short Films, and Live Stand-Up Comedy Highlight Final Day of 2nd Annual REEL Recovery Film Festival & Symposium - San Francisco Bay Area

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Jun 14, 2015, 10:35 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, June 14, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2^nd Annual REEL Recovery Film Festival & Symposium – San Francisco Bay Area will end with strength, hope and laughter on Sunday June 14, 2015.

The festival's Robin Williams Tribute starts with a screening of Patch Adams, starring Williams & Philip Seymour Hoffman. The film will be shown at both the Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael (10 A.M.) and the New People Cinema in San Francisco (2 P.M.). It's a delightful story about a medical student (Williams) in the 1970's, who treats patients, illegally, using humor. The film will be introduced comedian Johnny Steele.

A program featuring the San Francisco premiere of two brilliant short films will begin at 12:30 P.M. at the New People Cinema in San Francisco. Director KT Curran's The Holding Cell, is about one teenage girl's free-fall into the harrowing world of prescription drug abuse and addiction. Producer Lisa Brandy will present the film which is based upon true stories about real teenagers in Sarasota, Florida.

The second short film, Easy Silence, directed by Stephen Anthony Bailey, is the tale of Jade Sway a young woman in the backwoods of the American south who suddenly finds herself a single mother battling past addictions and demons that threaten the future of her and her baby.

At 4 P.M. Sunday afternoon, the final event of the 2^nd Annual REEL Recovery Film Festival & Symposium – San Francisco Bay Area will begin at the New People Cinema with a 10-minute reel of clips of Robin Williams talking about alcohol and drug issues. Then comedians with superpowers of humorous observation will take the stage to weigh-in on substance misuse, addiction, treatment, and recovery. Mark Ludholm, Barry Diamond, Johnny Steele, and Jan Wahl (MC for the 90-minute show) were all good friends of the late Williams.

The event is being produced by Alcohol Justice and Writers In Treatment with generous support from the San Francisco Sheriff's Department, Duffy's Napa Valley Rehab, Center Point, Inc., West America Bank, Kaiser Permanente Community Benefits Programs - Marin/Sonoma Area, Marin County Mental Health Substance Use Services, Ghilotti Construction Company, KRON-TV, the Michael Basso Foundation, Muir Wood Adolescent and Family Services, KPOO-FM, North Bay Recovery Center, Hotel Kabuki, Book Passage Book Store, and many Bay Area individuals and families.

Tickets are available exclusively through BrownPaperTickets.com. For more information about the festival, and to view a PSA featuring Michael Pritchard, go to: FilmFestSFBay.org