SDH Captioned
Grades 7 - 12, College, Adults
Directed by Soozie Eastman
Produced by Dog With A Bone, LLC
DVD Purchase $350, Rent $95
US Release Date: 2019
Copyright Date: 2019
DVD ISBN: 1-948745-25-9
Subjects
Activism
American Studies
Business Practices
Consumerism
Environment
Environmental Justice
Family/Consumer Sciences
Food And Nutrition
Health
Law
Medicine
Nursing
Political Science
Social Work
Toxic Chemicals
Women's Studies
Awards and Festivals
United Nations Association Film Festival
Chagrin Documentary Film Festival
One Earth Film Festival
Philadelphia Environmental Film Festival
Flyover Film Festival
Utopia Film Festival
ReadingFilmFEST
America's Toxic Love Story
Before she starts a family, Soozie Eastman wants to discover whether it's possible to reduce her body's--and by extension everybody's--toxic burden.
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"Highly engaging and educational...I highly recommend it for teachers and community groups who wish to raise awareness of these issues." Dr. Ann Aschengrau, Prof. Epidemiology, Boston University |
[Note: Community screenings of OVERLOAD can be booked at Bullfrog Communities.]
Before starting a family, Soozie Eastman, daughter of an industrial chemical distributor, embarks on a journey to find out the levels of toxins in her body and explores if there is anything she or anyone else can do to change them. Soozie has just learned that hundreds of synthetic toxins are now found in every baby born in America and the government and chemical corporations are doing little to protect citizens and consumers.
With guidance from world-renowned physicians and environmental leaders, interviews with scientists and politicians, and stories of everyday Americans, Soozie uncovers how we got to be so overloaded with chemicals and explores whether there is anything we can do to take control of our exposure.
Just as she feared, extensive blood testing reveals alarming levels of chemicals such as organophosphates and PBDEs in her body, so she undertakes dietary and lifestyle changes, including making informed product choices followed by a rigorous detox regimen, designed to manage and minimize her toxic body burden.
She's determined to find out: Can we hit the reset button, or is it too late?
Reviews
"Soozie is like everywoman, appalled and confused about the ubiquity of the chemicals that are allowed around us. Overload leaves us with the knowledge and tools that we can all use to fight and avoid this government-sanctioned flood of chemicals and take control for ourselves, our families and our world."
Adelita Cantu, Associate Professor of Nursing, UT Health San Antonio
"Overload leads viewers along an entertaining personal journey, beginning with the startling discovery that we each carry hundreds of synthetic chemical ingredients in our bodies that are commonly used in consumer products, without any effective regulatory oversight or understanding of the consequences. Instead of stopping there, however, she makes a few basic changes in her diet and purchasing habits that start to drastically detoxify her life. As conscious consumers, we have the potential collective power to help drive changes that ripple further out into our communities and the industries that are the ultimate source of the problem."
Charlie Cray, Senior Research Specialist, Greenpeace USA
"This highly engaging and educational film describes the many sources and dangers of toxic environmental chemicals. BUT it also gives us hope via practical solutions for reducing our exposures at both the personal and community level. I highly recommend it for teachers and community groups who wish to raise awareness of these issues."
Dr. Ann Aschengrau, Professor of Epidemiology, Boston University, Co-author, Essentials of Epidemiology in Public Health
"Soozie's personal journey to learn about and reduce her exposure to harmful chemicals in everyday products is illuminating. Overload highlights that we each have the power to make meaningful changes to protect our health. Her experiences also underscore the need for governments and corporations to step up and remove these chemicals from the marketplace."
Dr. Katie Pelch, Senior Scientist, The Endocrine Disruption Exchange (TEDX)
"As a teacher of environmental studies, I have been waiting for a film like this...It is engaging and understandable...It makes clear the complexity of the issue, from biology to economics and politics. Overload leaves us with concrete steps we can all take to reduce our personal exposure to toxins, and to change our broken system."
Pamela Morgan, Professor of Environmental Studies, University of New England
"Eastman's experience is honest and relatable, revealing that personal control over exposure to toxic chemicals is possible, but is only one step toward addressing the bigger problem of chemicals in our environment. Overload would be a great film for high school and college audiences, or anyone interested in learning more about chemical body burdens."
Norah MacKendrick, Associate Professor of Sociology, Rutgers University, Author, Better Safe Than Sorry: How Consumers Navigate Exposure to Everyday Toxics
"Overload provides Americans with the important reminder that every day, we are exposed to toxic chemicals...This is a necessary film for today's time, since our government will not make stronger regulations in regards to toxins, and the chemical industry will always put profit over health. As this film makes clear, we need to educate ourselves on what we can do to make a healthier and safer world."
Linda Reinstein, President and CEO, Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization
"An excellent overview of the challenges chemical exposures pose to public health and the environment. Chemical use in agriculture, industry, and consumer products grew exponentially since World War II but our capacity to assess exposures and health impacts has not kept up...Overload makes a strong case for the precautionary principle and to bend the arc of environmental policy toward greener chemistry that prevent chemicals from getting into people and the environment."
Asa Bradman, Associate Director, Center for Environmental Research and Children's Health, Associate Adjunct Professor, Environmental Health Sciences, University of California-Berkeley
"Her experiences teach us that our personal consumptive choices make up only a small fraction of what we are exposed to in our daily lives; therefore consumers need to demand corporate responsibility, as no regulatory or political entity will change business practices without such pressure. This film would be useful in the classroom to talk about personal consumer choices as well as engaging with political processes to improve transparency and the banning of certain chemicals that have become normative."
Aysha Bodenhamer, Films for the Feminist Classroom
"Highly Recommended...An excellent video related to how just living, as well as what we ingest in our bodies, raises our toxic burden."
Brad Eden, Educational Media Reviews Online