Under The Lights
Under the Lights is the award-winning story of Sam, a boy with epilepsy, so desperate to feel like a normal kid that he goes to prom knowing that the lights will make him have a seizure.
Cinema has historically stigmatized and ignored people with epilepsy. A demographic of 1 in 26 who have almost never been represented authentically on screen and suffer from brutal stigma every day. Written and directed by filmmaker with epilepsy, Miles Levin.
Under the Lights is a story you haven’t seen before. First a short, now a full feature, it is regarded as one of the highest-profile moments in epilepsy awareness history.
The film stars Pearce Joza, Tanyzn Crawford, Lake Bell, Randall Park and Nick Offerman.
Most screenings run as events rather than showtimes. The Virginia Beach date, for example, includes introductions, the film, a filmmaker Q&A, and a poster signing across four hours. You are not just seeing a movie; you are sitting in a room with other people who get it.
Where you can see it
Virginia Beach, VA, Saturday, August 22, 1:30 to 5:30 PM, Family Fun Xperience Theater, 206 16th Street. Presented by the Epilepsy Foundation of Virginia, Central Virginia Chapter
Buffalo, NY, Sunday, August 30, 2:00 to 5:00 PM, Electric City
San Diego, CA, Sunday, September 13, 12:30 to 4:00 PM, 1649 El Prado
Fort Worth, TX, Monday, September 14, 6:00 to 9:00 PM, 1600 Gendy Street
Dallas, TX, Tuesday, September 15, 6:00 to 9:00 PM, 6770 Abrams Road
Toledo, OH, Monday, September 21, 5:30 to 9:00 PM, Maumee Indoor Theater
Cleveland, OH, Thursday, September 24, 5:00 to 9:00 PM, 25100 Fairmount Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA, Sunday, September 27, 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM, Landmark Ritz
Tickets and full details for every date: underthelightsfilm.com/events
If it is not coming to your city
The filmmakers run a "Vote For Your City" request page. If enough people ask for a screening somewhere, they'll consider it.
This is worth five minutes of your time, and it is worth more if you live somewhere the epilepsy world routinely skips. The tour so far has hit New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Boston, Dallas, and New Orleans. It has not been to Montana, the Dakotas, Wyoming, or Maine, which are the same states with no accredited epilepsy center inside their borders.
Request a screening: underthelightsfilm.com