About the film – a synopsis
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Shaky and utterly chilling, iPhone footage shows Duanne Luckow’s decent into madness: his daily interactions, paranoid-delusions and a full-blown psychotic episode at the top of 611-foot Multnomah Falls' crashing waters near Portland, Oregon. He informs viewers that he means business. Mental-health experts from Yale School of Medicine and from the Global Mental Health Program at Columbia University say the iPhone footage Duanne Luckow shot, as he descends into madness in late 2010, offers a rare, unprecedented, unfiltered look at the mind of an untreated schizophrenic. Law enforcement officials nation-wide have requested clips for the purpose of training police officers, often the first-responders to those with mental health issues.
This is a specific harrowing story about a singular family trying to find its way through society’s imperfections, stigmas and prejudice when dealing with mental illness. It is a search for answers — a free-fall into a quagmire of conflicting interests, policies, and despair. |
Three months into Duanne’s first court-ordered 180-day commitment at Oregon State Hospital, Sandra Luckow, his sister and filmmaker, visited him. He gave her his iPhone with 250 video clips. He wanted his experience documented.
As the film proceeds, we see a myriad of seemingly insurmountable obstacles surround the Luckow family: a bill for almost $118,000 from the hospital that could not medicate him; several mis-diagnoses from mental-health professionals; elderly parents suffering from severe denial and their own health issues; a tsunami of debt incurred by Duanne's involvement with internet scams; and Duanne’s extraordinary ability to hide his illness and the secret life he lived from friends and family who knew nothing about it for so many for years. The film ends by recognizing that Duanne’s future is bleak. His psychosis continues to rage as he moves closer to becoming a statistic and an imminent danger to himself and others. |
The FilmmakerSandra Luckow works in all aspects of film production. In addition to filmmaking she teaches both documentary and narrative production at Yale University, School of Art; Barnard College; and Columbia University. She was the director of production at the Yale Summer Film Institute from 2002-2014.
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The Backstory“That Way Madness Lies…” is about the dynamics and destruction of a family where creative chaos was prized, blurring the line between talent and madness. The filmmaker and the subjects turn the camera on themselves at the most revealing and vulnerable times.
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The CommunityIt is the goal of this film to help create a community of support and understanding for those struggling to deal with mental illness. Click the button to learn more about the individuals and agencies who have signed on to become part of the solution.
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