The tragic family movie: “SPYRAL” World Premiere @ Dances with Films #27 Film Festival at the TCL Chinese Theatre at 6925 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028, will be coming soon- on Saturday June 29! From two-time Oscar winner, and three-time Emmy winner Bill Guttentag comes a New documentary: a real-life horror film shot entirely on raw home video and mobile phone cameras. It is so raw and immediate as to be nearly unprecedented: a dramatic and powerful view of the toll that mental illness takes on one woman’s life and her family. This documentary tells the tragic true story of the toll that bipolarism and drug abuse takes on a woman’s life and her family via a decade of home videos, diaries, and social media.
SPYRAL is a true story of one family’s struggle with mental illness in America. It is extreme, tragic, and could be triggering for some viewers, and to be honest this was very depressing for me to watch, and sad to see that things like this still happen quite often! The producers hope to shine a light on the need for treatment and emphasize that hope and resources are available if you or someone you know is suffering, so to learn more about this serious mental health issue, you can go to Randall and his daughter: Charlotte White’s website that they set up in honor of their mother: Michelle Cody White- mentalawarenesstoday.com They are both advocates for mental health awareness.
The story starts out in Alaska where Randall White is working for the Miltary, but soon travels to Portland Oregon to try to become a Rock-star with his band. Randall goes online on a social media site to meet Michelle, who he thinks is very beautiful and then he marries her- so she then becomes Michelle Cody White. Michelle has a lot of troubles in her past with her family- as her dad is a drug dealer selling oxycodone and opioids, and to fight depression and lose weight she becomes addicted to drugs, despite the fact that she used to be a nurse– who won the Dean’s Award for nursing and is given the OSHU award!
Randall and Michelle do a lot of fighting, during their marriage due to problems they both had with their families, and Michelle doing drugs, cheating and having Bipolar 1 disorder.
This is only made worst after they have a baby daughter: Charlotte, who they lose at the Oregon State Fair. They move to Southern California and continue to have lots of troubles and fighting, which has bad effects on Charlotte. However, their daughter brings them both great joy, and they both love her dearly.
It is very sad and depressing as they fight so much and have court troubles between then both, and custody fights over their daughter Charlotte. Nothing ever gets resolved and sadly Michelle dies, and only lives from 1977 to 2015. Randall White now lives with his daughter Charlotte in Austin, Texas. The only redeeming aspect of their story, is that people can learn from their mistakes, and be aware of mental health issues, and drug abuse. Despite the sadness, this is still a movie that I can recommend, to watch their mistakes, and learn from all the fighting, and to try and be prepared to handle drug addiction and deal with mental health issues.
This documentary, featuring the voice talent of Michelle Trachtenberg, captures a desperate husband’s attempts to save his family from his wife’s mental disorder and drug abuse that transforms her from a loving mother into a destructive, violent stranger. 
Randall White and Michelle Cody White (in above movie poster) once embarked on what was to be a lifetime together rich in adventure, family experience, and happiness. Randy, a rising rock & roll star from a loving military family from Alaska, and Michelle, a nurse who’d escaped a tough, drug- fueled home in small-town Indiana, exhaustively documented their lives in intimate home video and mobile phone footage. Randy and Michelle meet and quickly fall in love, but on the first day they’re together, Michelle warns Randy: “I come from a crazy family.”
That hairline crack yawns wider and wider as the relationship progresses and Michelle and Randy have a daughter, Charlotte. Michelle slowly, inexorably descends into a cycle of mental illness and drug abuse that transforms her from a loving mother and skilled medical professional into a destructive, violent stranger. Randy’s once cheerful and exuberant filming instead chronicles his increasingly desperate attempt to save his marriage, his family and ultimately, Michelle’s life.
Writer, producer and director Bill Guttentag has won Academy Awards for the documentaries YOU DON’T HAVE TO DIE and TWIN TOWERS, and has earned three additional Oscar nominations, a Peabody Award, three Emmy Awards, two Writers Guild Award nominations, and a Producers Guild Award nomination. Guttentag has directed multiple films for HBO, including ONLY THE DEAD SEE THE END OF WAR, and co-created and executive-produced the NBC docuseries Law & Order: Crime & Punishment. He directed the theatrical documentaries NANKING and SOUNDTRACK FOR A REVOLUTION and wrote and directed the dramatic features KNIFE FIGHT, starring Rob Lowe and Carrie-Ann Moss, and LIVE! (Atlas Entertainment), starring Eva Mendes and Andre Braugher, which both premiered at Tribeca.
Voice talent Michelle Trachtenberg (as Michelle Cody White) doesn’t merely voice-over; she disappears into Michelle’s character and personality and speaks for her directly to the audience. Trachtenberg is known for her starring roles in television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2000–03) and Gossip Girl (2007–2012), and in the films HARRIET THE SPY (1996); INSPECTOR GADGET (1999); EUROTRIP (2004); ICE PRINCESS (2005); BLACK CHRISTMAS (2006); and 17 AGAIN (2009).
SPYRAL
Shape Pictures Presents
An All Entertainment Business Production
In Association with Black Feather Pictures
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Running Time: 80 minutes
Writer/Director/Executive Producer: Bill Guttentag
Producer: Jennifer Hutchins
Co-Producers: Lee Rothenflue, Lila Schmitz
Executive Producers: Jason French, Terence Michael
Cinematography: Randall White
Editor: Nick Bradford
Music by: David Khane
Voice Over by: Michelle Trachtenberg
Our News Team of Entertainment Today TV Producer: Steve Taylor, TV Show Host: Margie Rey, & News Reporter: Matt Segal at The Opening Night of the Dances With Films Festival in Hollywood, at The World Famous Chinese Theatre: 
Among DWF: LA’s lineup of 232 films, including 38 narrative features, 17 documentary features, 25 television and streaming pilots, and 152 short films (101 narrative and 20 documentaries, 13 KIdz section, 18 Downbeat/Music), are an impressive number of films (117!) making world, international, North American, or U.S. premieres. That number includes 24 narrative features, 10 documentary features, 69 narrative shorts, 22 documentary shorts (including Downbeat), and 15 pilots which will have world premiere screenings at Dances With Films.
The Dances With Films Festival is a Star-Studded 11 days, with Both A-List stars, and several recognizable faces and names that include: “Norita” that is Executive produced by Jane Fonda, Russell Goldman’s Burn Out, which is executive produced by Jamie Lee Curtis and stars Tommie Earl Jenkins, Eli Vidis Newman’s Concrete, which stars four-time Oscar nominee Ed Harris, Kestrin Pantera’s Dr. No Means No, which stars comedy duo The Sklar Brothers, Mindy Sterling (Austin Powers), and Breeda Wool (The Walking Dead), Mike Harris’ Mecánica, which stars Haley Joel Osment, and Olivia Sandoval(Fargo), and Danny Farber’s Thoughts and Prayers, which is executive produced by Amy Poehler, “Tim Travers & The Time Travelers Paradox” Stars: Samuel Dunning, Felicia Day, Danny Trejo, and Keith David, Mindy Cohn the Co-Star on “The Facts of Life,” and finally: the World Premiere of “Max Dagan” which stars: Rob Morrow, Zachary Gordon, Michael Madsen, Rob Brownstein, Lindsey Dresbach, Lisa Roumain, and Comedians and Actors Jeff Ross and Jay Mohr!
So stay tuned and thanks for watching Entertainment & Sports Today TV and Entertainment Today on Time Warner/ Spectrum. To watch other shows go to: EntertainmentandSportsToday.com Celebrating 30 Years being Broadcast on TIME WARNER / Spectrum!
