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Synopsis

Michael is a passionate advocate for recovery fueled by decades of lived experience. Damian is an aspiring comic, musician, and spiritual healer battling addiction and the stresses of homelessness. Together, they struggle to overcome their demons and live lives of creativity, compassion and connection.

 

Filmed over four years, this extremely intimate documentary aims to change the way audiences view those struggling with substance use disorder, mental health challenges, and homelessness. Character-driven and radically compassionate, it is a story of perseverance and the will to find enduring happiness despite one's circumstances.

 

You could say that Michael and Damian were dealt unfortunate hands in life. Michael experienced physical and emotional abuse at the boys home where he was raised from infancy to age 14. By 17 he was illiterate and living in an abandoned house in Van Nuys, California. Damian, a sensitive child, was subjected to years of neglect by his mother. At 17 he left home, and at 19 he lost his father to suicide.

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Damian is not just surviving while living in a small tent year-round, he does tarot readings on the street, standup comedy and music at Open Mic nights, as well as writes poetry for a local independent arts and culture quarterly. Michael utilizes his decades of experience struggling with substance use disorder and homelessness to help those most in need.

 

The longer Michael tries to help Damian the better he understands his psychological and emotional strengths as well as challenges. Damian comes to learn through Michael’s actions that Michael truly cares about him, but as Damian becomes increasingly enmeshed in the criminal justice system, he pushes back against Michael’s advice to submit to a court-ordered regime of jail time, psychological evaluations and medication.

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Will Damian break under the enormous stress of his situation, or will he find his way into stability and healing? Will he be able to share his talents as a spiritual healer with the world, or will he remain stuck in a downward cycle of poverty, addiction, and mental health challenges. Will Michael continue to believe in his ability to help others? Can he strike the right balance between giving as generously as his heart desires, and not taking on too much of other people’s pain and suffering.

Team

Gabe Van Lelyveld - Producer/Director/Co-writer/DP

Gabe Van Lelyveld is a visual storyteller working primarily in documentary and commercial film. His 2013 Narrative feature, Mandarose, which he Co-wrote, Directed, Edited and Produced, screened at six film festivals in the U.S. and abroad, and won the Audience Choice Award for Best Narrative Feature at the NW Filmmaker’s Festival that year. He is also the Co-writer and Editor of Dark and Tender (2024), an award-winning short documentary that has screened at six film festivals.

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Olivier Matthon - Co-writer/Editor/Additional Camera

Olivier Matthon is a commercial mushroom picker and filmmaker who graduated with a B.A. in Ethnography, Political Ecology, and Nonfiction Writing from the Evergreen State College. He is the director, cinematographer, and editor of the feature-length documentary Up on the Mountain.

 

His work has been published by Pioneers Press, the UTNE Reader, and High Country News Magazine, and exhibited at the Museum of Ethnography of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Originally from Québec, he now lives in the Pacific Northwest.

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Jessica Plumb - Story Consultant/Additional Camera

Jessica Plumb is an award-winning filmmaker and writer, and founder of Plumb Productions, a multi-media storytelling company specializing in films on the environment, people and place. She is the Producer and Co-Director of Return of the River, a feature documentary about the restoration of the Elwha River, recognized with over a dozen festival awards, including “Best Storytelling” by the International Wildlife Film Festival, and multiple awards by Jackson Wild.

 

She has produced and directed short films for HHMI Tangled Bank Studios, Nat Geo Learning, the Stanford Program on Water, Health & Development, the Clean Energy Transition Institute, and numerous non-profit institutions. For more, visit plumbproductions.com.

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Eric Philips - Composer

Eric is a composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist and teacher originally from Boston, Mass. After studying under Pedro Henriques Da Silva at New York University and graduating with a degree in Theory and Composition, Eric began working under mentor film composer Mark Orton (Nebraska, My Old Lady, Boxtrolls, This American Life, more). Since then, Eric has worked on and composed the music for numerous feature films, video games, documentaries and podcasts.

 

Recent work has included Higher Ground and Concordia Studios Netflix Docuseries Working: What We Do All Day starring Barack Obama, Crooked Media’s Dreamtown which is premiering at Tribeca 2023, Jan Haaken’s award winning documentaries and feature length film 12 Mighty Orphans starring Luke Wilson, Robert Duvall and Martin Sheen, which alongside Mark Orton, Eric was lucky enough to record the Moscow Bowtie Orchestra for.

Film Credits

With
Michael McCutcheon
Damian A. Eldritch

 

Executive Producer
D.D. Wigley

 

Directed and Produced by
Gabe Van Lelyveld

 

Co-written by
Gabe Van Lelyveld
Olivier Matthon

 

Edited by
Olivier Matthon

 

Story Consultant
Jessica Plumb

 

Director of Photography
Gabe Van Lelyveld

 

Additional Camera
Olivier Matthon
Jessica Plumb
Dennis Daneau

 

Original Score by
Eric Phillips

 

Pedal Steel Guitar played by
Jonny Lam

 

Re-recording Mixer
Paul Eric Miller

 

Sound Designer
Mike McAuliffe

 

Audio Services Manager
Wendi Wills

 

Audio Post Production provided by
Bad Animals Seattle

 

Graphic Design
Sarah Peller, Fruition Design

 

Advisory Panel
Jon Davies
Jaymie Fowler
Eden Blooms

 

Fiscal Sponsorship
Port Townsend Film Festival
Port Townsend Film Society

 

Seed & Spark Supporters
Deb Wiese, Tudi Haasl, Brian Lindstrom , Ward Serrill, James Jackson, Lola Milholland, Danielle
McClelland, Jane & Michael Armstrong, Gabrielle Vanwert, Ben Wilson, Maya & Kris Horrocks,
Caitlin Carnahan, Greg Reed, Mila Reid, Mary Dickerson, Deborah Hammond, Gale Wallace, Julia
Cochrane, Port Townsend Life, Ian & Morgan Hanna, Jeanne Simmons, Rose Madrone, Maria Taverna,
Daniel Greholver, Erin Yanke, Danny Milholland, Nico Crane, Tobi McEnerney, Keith Hitchcock,
Michelle Orozco, Rosalie Miller, The McEnerney's, JoAnne Tompkins, Al Bergstein, Efan Chen, Sam
Bain, Brian Coleman, Ben Thomas, Don Stromberg, Pat Stromberg, Annie Fergerson, Judith
Alexander, Caroline Wildflower, Greg Parrish, Amy Murray, Karen O’Connor, Marcy Jaffe, Thinking
of You, Kathleen Kler, Steve Kidd, Lara Gaasland-Tatro, Henry Bennett, Jason Victor Serinus, Elaine
Nelson, Marcia Kelbon, Sandra Stowell, Julia Cochrane, Patra Conley, Libby Pratt, Michelle
Hagewood, Kate & Ryan Chadwick, Sandra Stowell, Elise Buie, Katy Goodman, Zach Moser, The
Bartos Mauro Family, Rich & Geralynn, Owen Rowe, Karen & Glen Everitt, Kate Dean, Michelle
Sandoval, Gage Pacifera, Andrew Wiese, Nicole Comforto, Michael Oneppo , Samara Larochelle,
Julianne Wilder, Darin Reid, Maria Coryell-Martin

 

Special Thanks
Danielle McClelland , Keith Hitchcock, Malcolm Dorn , Rocky Friedman , Fran Post , Douglas
Milholland, Earll Murman, David Faber, Linda Heuertz, Ken Clatterbaugh, David Carlbom, Linda
Martin, Elise Buie, Steve Dowdell, Shirley Moss, Elise Buie Family Law Group PLLC, Libby Palmer,
Jane Armstrong, Marcy Jaffe, Daniel Overbey, Lotus, Mikey (Caboose), Autumn Kemmer , Walter
Massey, Asher the dog, Isaiah Peoples-Morse, Kathy, Helen Kenoyer, Blake Stensland, Greg
Brotherton, Heidi Eisenhour, Doug Edelstein, Ben Cassard, Heather Freund, Dawn , Simon Kaufman,
Roger Smith, Helen Spry, Amanda Grace, Angela Wilkinson, Jim Novelli, Joe Nole, Nick Ferrel, Terri
Berge, David Kapp , Jim Scarantino, Jody Vodder, Alec Dunn , Erin Yanke, Michael Reis, Alicia
Dominguez, Brian Richardson, Heidi Johnson, Julliet Elmore , Jefferson County Filmmaker Collective,
Kathy Strauss, Adrienne Von Wolffersdorff, Graeme Aegerter, Melissa Tumas , Rick DuPree , Rosalie
Miller, Kirk W. Johnson

 

Michael and Damian © 2025

Whaleheart Productions 2025

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