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Room to Breathe is a 2012 documentary film directed and produced by Russell Long.

Background
The American educational system today is obsessively focused on the acquisition and testing of external knowledge for children. Unfortunately, this has come at a great cost: neglect for the social and emotional education of the whole child.

However, since the mid-1990s, a variety of very effective social and emotional learning programs have been implemented in classrooms across the country. Backed up by major studies, these programs are shown to reduce anger and acting-out behavior, improve attention, learning, and grades, and increase happiness and emotional self-regulation in the students involved in them.

Room to Breathe was made to highlight one such program, based on a practice called “mindfulness,” implemented in several of the lowest-performing classrooms in the San Francisco Unified School District.

Synopsis
Room To Breathe is a surprising story of transformation as struggling kids in a San Francisco public middle school are introduced to the practice of mindfulness meditation.

Topping the district in disciplinary suspensions, and with overcrowded classrooms creating a nearly impossible learning environment, overwhelmed administrators are left with stark choices: repeating the cycle of trying to force tuned-out children to listen, or experimenting with timeless inner practices that may provide them with the social, emotional, and attentional skills that they need to succeed.

The first question is whether it’s already too late. Confronted by defiance, contempt for authority figures, poor discipline, and more interest in “social” than learning, can a young mindfulness teacher from Berkeley succeed in opening their minds and hearts?

Reviews
Subsequent to its release at the Mill Valley Film Festival in 2012, Room to Breathe has garnered praise from many sources. Diana Winston, Director of Mindfulness Education, UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center, states, “This film beautifully and authentically portrays the power of mindfulness to change individuals, families, one classroom, and perhaps, one day, the world.” Andrew Reiner in the Washington Post’s Education Issue writes, Room to Breathe has “brought national attention” to the use of mindfulness in schools. Richard Shiffman in the Sydney Morning Herald attests that the film “gave me hope.” And Edutopia has recognized Room to Breathe as one of the films “to get you thinking” about education reform.

Awards
Room to Breathe screened at twenty film festivals in seven countries, including the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Mexico, and Singapore and has won a number of awards including the Platinum Reel Award at the Nevada Film Festival, People’s Choice Award at Love Unlimited Film Festival, Social Impact Award in Feature Documentary at Richmond International Film Festival, and the Honolulu Film Awards’ Silver Lei.

Distribution
In the fall of 2012, Room to Breathe was released for educational distribution by the The Video Project, in San Francisco, California.

In the fall of 2013, Room to Breathe aired on over 150 public television stations across the United States, including WGBH’s World Channel.

On February 17th, 2014, the home use DVD was released for purchase. The film was released on iTunes in May, 2014.

Filmmakers
Russell Long Producer/Director

Russell Long is an executive producer of the award-winning film Someplace With A Mountain, narrated by Chevy Chase, about the imminent displacement of Micronesians living on atolls due to sea-level rise (PBS affiliates, 2010), A Sheltered Sea about marine protected areas (PBS affiliates, 2009), Sweet Dreams about the women of Rwanda healing from genocide (HBO Films Producer Award, 2012), State of Control, about Tibetan activists risking their lives to demand human rights from China (United Nations Association Film Festival, 2013), and co-executive producer of The lsland President about former Maldives’ President Nasheed's efforts to stop global warming (Toronto Film Festival Audience Award, PBS, 2013). He is also the Producer/Director of Room To Breathe, about troubled public middle school children learning mindfulness meditation (PBS World Channel, 2013), and a principal funder for Semper Fi, a story about U.S. Marines who contracted cancer from toxic groundwater supplies at Camp Lejeune (PBS, 2011).

Prior to making films, he founded the national environmental group Bluewater Network, and was responsible for numerous state and federal laws including the United States ﬁrst law to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He has written opinion editorials on environmental issues for major media outlets such as the New York Times, the L.A. Times, and the Boston Globe. Earlier in his career, he was a professional sailor and America’s Cup Skipper. He received his BA from Harvard’s School of Visual Arts, MBA from Columbia, and attended Columbia’s Graduate Film program. He serves on the Board of the environmental group, Friends of the Earth.

Gail Mallimson Co-Producer/Editor

Gail Mallimson was the editor and writer for Training Rules, an award-winning documentary on the homophobic practices in women’s collegiate sports, and editor of Not In Our Town Northern California: When Hate Happens Here, an hour-long documentary on deadly hate violence over a five-year period in five regions in California. She also edited the documentary, What’s Race Got To Do With It by California Newsreel, which chronicles the experiences of a diverse group of college students engaged in dialogue on such issues as multiculturalism, social equity, and affirmative action. She is producer/director/videographer of The Edge Of The Wild, an hour-long documentary on the fight to save endangered species from the threat of suburbanization. In addition, she has edited and produced TV segments and educational videos for ZDTV, 21st Century Homes, Teachscape, StirTV, and many other non-profits and companies. She holds a BFA in painting and photography, and an MA in documentary film and photography, both from New York University. For more info, visit www.sfeditor.com