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Kings Park: Stories from an American Mental Institution

A powerful and very personal documentary about the history and legacy of the Kings Park State Mental Hospital by Filmmaker and former patient Lucy Winer

In Person: Filmmaker LUCY WINER
and Members of the Cast & Crew

On June 21, 1967, at the age of 17, Lucy Winer was committed to the female violent ward of Kings Park State Hospital following a series of failed suicide attempts.

Over 30 years later, now an award-winning documentary filmmaker, Ms. Winer returns to Kings Park for the first time since her discharge. Her journey back sparks a decade-long effort to face her past and learn the story of the now abandoned institution that once held her captive. Meetings with other former patients, their families, and the hospital staff, reveal the painful legacy of our state hospital system and the crisis left by its demise. Following a "sneak peek" at the Stony Brook International Film Festival, where it broke festival records with an audience turnout of over 1500, Kings Park premiered to sold-out houses and glowing reviews at the Woodstock International Film Festival. (USA, 2011, 108 min., color, Blu-ray / A Film by Lucy Winer and Karen Eaton)

"When the credits ended and the house lights came on the audience sat in stunned silence. After a few seconds there was a scattered applause, which grew into a thunderous roar. Kings Park is an extraordinarily powerful film or three films superbly tiered with each poignant and insightful." - Stewart Nusbaumer, FILMMAKER MAGAZINE