Indestructible
(DVD)
DIRECTED BY - Ben Byer
Diagnosed with ALS, a fatal neurodegenerative disease, 31 year-old Ben Byer begins documenting his life on camera. What begins as a series of video diaries grows into a three-year journey as he searches for answers, and maybe even a cure.
Joined by his childhood friend Roko Belic (Academy Award™ nominee, Genghis Blues) as his cameraman, Ben takes the audience on a daring first-person ride through the world of ALS. As he meets with medical experts and other ALS sufferers, Ben reveals a hidden world in which people struggle to stand, to speak, and to remain alive as they await the breakthrough that might save them. In China, Ben meets the inventor of an herbal compound that may prolong his life, an All-American weightlifter with ALS trying to cure himself through Tai Chi and acupuncture, fortune-tellers, monks and many others. When he discovers a radical fetal-cell transplant procedure in Beijing, Ben must decide if the operation’s potential to restore his body outweighs its danger.
GENRES - documentary, drama, international
Film Info
RUNTIME - 113 minutes
RATING - Not Rated
YEAR - 2008
FORMAT - DVD Region 1
COUNTRY - United States, Jamaica, China, Israel, Egypt, Greece
LANGUAGE - English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Tibetan, Greek
SUBTITLES - English
ATTRIBUTES - Color, Anamorphic
Related Links:
Official Website
Director
Producer
Editor
Cinematographer
Sound
Composer
FESTIVALS
- Astoria InternationalFilm Festival 2008 (Astoria, OR)
- Brooklyn Independent Cinema Series 2008 (Brooklyn, NY)
- Byron Bay Film Festival 2008 (Byron Bay, AUSTRALIA)
- Docupolis8 2008 (Barcelona, SPAIN)
- Festivus 2008 (Denver, Colorado)
- Kansas International Film Festival 2008 (Kansas City, United States)
- Lake County Film Festival 2008 (Vernon Hills, United States)
- New Orleans Film Festival 2008 (New Orleans, United States)
- Oxford International Film Festival 2008 (Oxford, OH)
- Raindance Film Festival 2008 (London, United Kingdom)
Awards
- BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY (Winner)
2008 Roving Eye Documentary Film Festival (Providence, RI) - BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY (Winner)
2007 Midwest Independent Film Festival (Chicago, IL) - BEST DIRECTOR (Winner)
2007 Midwest Independent Film Festival (Chicago, IL) - BEST EDITING (Winner)
2007 Midwest Independent Film Festival (Chicago, IL) - BEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY (Winner)
2008 Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival (Thessaloniki, Greece) - BEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY (Winner)
2008 Astoria InternationalFilm Festival (Astoria, OR)
Press
“Indestructible is a stirring narrative, a movie of epic dramatic force that holds its
own with the best of any major work of cinema.”
-Beverly Berning, Culture Vulture
“An intimate, lacerating, absorbing visual diary of the three-year onset of terminal disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in aspiring filmmaker Ben Byer, Indestructible is an immersive, edifying journey of acceptance, setback and
strength.”
-Eddie Cockrell, Variety
