It Is Epilepsy: The Challenges & Promises of Automated Seizure Control is a 56 minute documentary that chronicles the hidden disease of epilepsy, the patients and families who suffer with it, and the hope found in the latest research which uses math, engineering, physics and technology to predict/detect seizures and automatically control them.

After almost ten years in the making, It Is Epilepsy was completed in mid-2009.  Since then we have entered it in film festivals in the United States and around the world.  The response has been wonderful.  Click here to see the list of awards, screenings and other recognition It Is Epilepsy has received.

Our ultimate goal is for It Is Epilepsy to be aired on television so that the public will become more aware of epilepsy, and those who suffer with epilepsy in their lives will find hope in the promises of research.

It Is Epilepsy will be available for purchase at a future date.

Synopsis:

It Is Epilepsy: The Challenges & Promises of Automated Seizure Control provides an overall look at epilepsy and the impact it can have on the lives of those who suffer with seizures and on their families. Then, It Is Epilepsy features the promise and hope found in the latest research on predicting and automatically controlling (and even preventing) seizures.

Even though we live in the twenty-first century, epilepsy remains a stigmatized and hidden disease. 3 million people in the United States and 60 million people worldwide suffer with epilepsy. More Americans have epilepsy than have Muscular Dystrophy, AIDS, HIV, Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease combined. In one poll of U. S. patients it was reported that approximately 80% of them continue to have seizures or problems with side effects from medications or both. These complications result in disability and dependence on family members and society. Additionally, as many as 40,000 people DIE annually as a direct consequence of seizures. More die and are injured in accidents caused by seizures. The direct and indirect financial costs of epilepsy in the U. S. are conservatively estimated to total $12.5 billion annually. This is a startling set of facts unknown to most Americans.

In It Is Epilepsy patient and family stories show the despair and frustrations suffered by millions of people who live daily with this disease. A classical music metaphor is used to help explain and demonstrate what happens in the multi-tasking brain as a seizure takes over. Clinicians describe the different types of epilepsy and current treatments.

But it is the unpredictability of seizures that can be the most crippling, and can most negatively impact safety, life span and quality of life for epilepsy sufferers. To address this issue an extraordinary, multi-disciplinary team of scientists – neurologists, mathematicians, engineers, computer scientists, physicists and neurosurgeons – have developed a system that predicts seizures before they occur. In addition, the team is currently developing a method of preventing seizures from even taking place. The progress of this research will provide hope to the millions of people who suffer with or are affected by epilepsy.

Lack of public awareness of epilepsy is one of the biggest roadblocks in efforts to expedite research which will ultimately improve quality of life for all who are affected by this disorder. It Is Epilepsy tells this important story to the public and helps shed light on epilepsy, the hidden disease.

Film Festival Awards:

Best Educational Film, Van Gogh Award, 2010 Amsterdam Film Festival

Gold Kahuna Award for Excellence in Filmmaking, 2010 Honolulu Film Festival, presented April 25, 2010

Silver Palm Award for Excellent and Outstanding Filmmaking, 2010 Mexico International Film Festival, presented on May 23, 2010

Silver Ace Award for Superior and Standout Filmmaking, 2010 Las Vegas Film Festival, presented on June 6, 2010

El Capitan Film Award, 2010 Yosemite Film Festival, October 30, 2010

Other Film Festival Recognition and Feedback:

Award Nominee Recognizing the Best in Independent Film (certificate), 2010 Official Best of Fest, Seattle, WA

"Your exploration of the condition is fascinating and thought-provoking, and sequences like the seizure symphony are refreshingly unique." David Friesen, Submissions Director, 2010 True/False Film Fest, Columbia, MO

Film Festival Screenings:

2010 Women's International Film Festival, Miami, FL, April 2, 2010

Appreciation Reception, Kansas City, MO, May 1, 2010

2010 Swansea Bay Film Festival, Swansea Bay, Wales, May 12, 2010

2010 DocMiami International Film Festival, Miami, FL, May 28, 2010

The International Film Festival Ireland 2010, Clonmel, County Tipperary, Ireland, September 6, 2010

The International Documentary Film Festival 2010, Chagrin Falls, Ohio, October 12-16, 2010

The International Film Festival 2010, South Africa, November 1-5, 2010

The Swansea Bay Film Festival 2011, Swansea Bay, Wales, May 7-12, 2011

International Gay Film Festival 2011, Mumbles, UK, May 17 -22, 2011

The International Film Festival of Mind, Body, Spirit & Ecology 2011, Abercraft Wales, UK, August 2-6, 2011

The International Youth Film Festival 2011, Port Talbot, South Wales, UK, August 9-13, 2011

International Film Festival of West Wales 2011, Llanelli, Wales, UK, August 16-21, 2011

The Heart of England International Film Festival 2011, Worcestershire, UK September 7-18, 2011

International Film Festival of Australasia 2011, Chateau Tanunda, October 26-29, 2011

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