Wide Awake

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Health-Medical Documentary narrated by Alan Berliner and published by HBO in 2006 - English narration

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In a style all his own, Alan Berliner puts his struggle with insomnia under the microscope in this groundbreaking personal documentary. A cinematically innovative and visually provocative film, Wide Awake takes aim at a debilitating affliction that affects many of us at some point in our lives. According to the National Sleep Foundation, 70 million Americans suffer from some form of sleep problem, and 50 percent of the adults who responded to their recent poll claimed they don't sleep as well as they'd like to.

In many ways, Wide Awake is also a film about filmmaking. We see footage documenting the process of making the film, including shots of Berliner recording narration, talking with his film crew, working at his desk and editing at his computer. There's even a raucously caffeinated tour of his studio, in which we begin to understand a lot more about Berliner's obsessions and how they serve him as a filmmaker. As the film progresses, Berliner reveals more and more about his secret life as a "night owl," and we learn how he has turned the very obsessive energy that keeps him up at night into a source of fuel and inspiration for his creative work.

Wide Awake is not only a personal story; it also achieves a broader social commentary by taking subtle aim at the enticements and distractions of technology and a media- saturated environment that bombards us with news and information, 24/7. Berliner suggests that the common explanation "human error" should be reinterpreted to mean the mistakes of someone suffering from sleeplessness; at one point he even wonders how sleep deprivation might affect everything from world politics to the results of the World Series.

Among the experts who share their knowledge in Wide Awake are: Dr. William C. Dement, MD, PhD, Director, Sleep Disorder Clinic and Research Center at Stanford University; Dr. Leonid Kayumov, PhD, Director, Sleep Neuropsychiatry Institute at the University of Toronto; Dr. Mark Rosekind, PhD, President & Chief Scientist, Alertness Solutions; Dr. Richard D. Simon Jr., MD, Medical Director, Kathryn Severyns Dement Sleep Disorders Center; and Dr. Art Spielman, PhD, Associate Director, Center for Sleep Medicine, Weill Medical College at NY Presbyterian Hospital- Cornell University.

Wide Awake received its world premiere at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, and its international premiere at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival. An internationally acclaimed and award-winning filmmaker, Alan Berliner's previous films include The Sweetest Sound (2001), Nobody's Business (1996), Intimate Stranger (1991) and The Family Album (1986).

Produced, Directed, Written & Edited by Alan Berliner; Associate Producer: Natalya Trifonova; Story Consultants: Spencer Seidman and Shari Spiegel; Director of Photography: Ian Vollmer. For HBO: Senior Producer: Lisa Heller; Executive Producer: Sheila Nevins.