REVIEW - THE WRAP
‘That Way Madness Lies’ Film Review: Doc Director Takes an Up Close and Personal Look at Her Brother’s Mental Illness
By Monica Castillo
As a society, we do a terrible job of talking about mental illness. We do a worse job caring for people struggling to recover from their illness or to manage their symptoms. In Sandra Luckow’s personal documentary, “That Way Madness Lies,” viewers get to see just how ill-equipped healthcare and law enforcement officials are at helping some of their most vulnerable populations.
Sandra and her brother Duanne grew up in the Pacific Northwest in the ’80s. The documentary dotes on these fond memories and photos of family ski trips near Mount St. Helens, and how Duanne’s love of film helped inspire Sandra to pick up a camera. The four members of the family were all creative in their own way: their father, Gerald, liked to restore cars, which Duanne later made his business. Their mom, Dolores, spent her free time making miniature homes and models. Before Sandra dove into the world of filmmaking, she went through a ventriloquist phase.
Click here to read the rest of the review.
Sandra and her brother Duanne grew up in the Pacific Northwest in the ’80s. The documentary dotes on these fond memories and photos of family ski trips near Mount St. Helens, and how Duanne’s love of film helped inspire Sandra to pick up a camera. The four members of the family were all creative in their own way: their father, Gerald, liked to restore cars, which Duanne later made his business. Their mom, Dolores, spent her free time making miniature homes and models. Before Sandra dove into the world of filmmaking, she went through a ventriloquist phase.
Click here to read the rest of the review.
REVIEW - THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
'That Way Madness Lies': Film Review
by Frank Scheck
Sandra Luckow's documentary provides an intimate chronicle of her brother's struggle with mental illness and the toll it took on his family.
The ravages of mental illness, and the toll it takes on both the sufferer and family members, have rarely been presented as vividly as they are in Sandra Luckow's documentary. A highly personal portrait of her brother Duanne, who began exhibiting signs of schizophrenia in his mid-40s (the condition usually manifests itself much earlier), That Way Madness Lies delivers an unblinking assessment of the failures of the health, judicial and penal systems to effectively address what is a growing national problem.
Click here to read the rest of the review.
The ravages of mental illness, and the toll it takes on both the sufferer and family members, have rarely been presented as vividly as they are in Sandra Luckow's documentary. A highly personal portrait of her brother Duanne, who began exhibiting signs of schizophrenia in his mid-40s (the condition usually manifests itself much earlier), That Way Madness Lies delivers an unblinking assessment of the failures of the health, judicial and penal systems to effectively address what is a growing national problem.
Click here to read the rest of the review.
REVIEW - NEW YORK TIMES
‘That Way Madness Lies …’ Review: A Terrifying True Story, Ordinarily Told
By Glenn Kenny
The annals of documentary film are packed with movies that are formally rudimentary or even threadbare, but contain stories so compelling that they command a regard beyond what the film’s presentation accords them.
Click here to read the rest of the review.
Click here to read the rest of the review.
REVIEW - LA TIMES
Review: Mental illness hits close to home in the documentary 'That Way Madness Lies'
By Michael Rechtshaffen
Documentary filmmaker Sandra Luckow experiences the full extent of what it means to be her brother’s keeper in “That Way Madness Lies,” a disturbing portrait of the substantial emotional and physical price exacted when mental illness hits devastatingly close to home.
When we first meet Luckow’s brother Duanne, he has been involuntarily committed to the Oregon State Hospital (made famous in 1975’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”), after being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
Click here to read the rest of the review.
When we first meet Luckow’s brother Duanne, he has been involuntarily committed to the Oregon State Hospital (made famous in 1975’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”), after being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
Click here to read the rest of the review.
FEATURED LIST - THE WRAP
11 Best Documentaries of 2018, From ‘Minding the Gap’ to ‘Monrovia, Indiana’
The Wrap’s Best & Worst of 2018: Critic Alonso Duralde picks the best non-fiction films that span a gamut of styles and stories.
Click here to read the full article.
Click here to read the full article.
REVIEW - PSYCHOLOGY TODAY
Sandra Luckow's film "That Way Madness Lies..."
By Ingrid Blaufarb Hughes
“That Way Madness Lies…” is Sandra Luckow’s film about her brother, Duanne, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. In this engaging portrait of a family, Luckow conveys powerfully the experience of trying to help a relative with major mental illness—with love, pain, persistence, and frustration. As often happens, she was dealing with several family problems simultaneously: not only with her brother’s, but also those of her parents, both of whom died during the course of filming.
Click here to read the rest of the review.
Click here to read the rest of the review.
PRESS RELEASE
FIRST RUN FEATURES PRESENTS THE U.S. THEATRICAL PREMIERE OF THAT WAY MADNESS LIES…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kelly Hargraves
(323) 493-1548
kelly.hargraves@firstrunfeatures.com
Sandra Luckow's Documentary Opens December 14 in New York & Los Angeles
NYC & LA Press Screening Info Below
Interviews available upon request
First Run Features is proud to announce the theatrical premiere of That Way Madness Lies…, a new documentary directed by award-winning filmmaker Sandra Luckow. The film opens in New York and Los Angeles on December 14, 2018.
What do you do when your brother descends into a black hole of mental instability – starting with falling for a Nigerian email scam but eventually winding up involuntary committed into the hospital made famous by One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest?
Luckow unflinchingly turns her camera on her own family as they attempt to navigate the broken mental health system in an effort to save her brother, Duanne. His iPhone video diary ultimately becomes an unfiltered look at the mind of a man with untreated schizophrenia as well as an indictment of how the system failed.
Press Screening Information
Los Angeles
Saturday, October 27th at 2:00pm
Laemmle Royal
11523 Santa Monica Blvd, 1st Floor,
Los Angeles, CA 90025
New York City
Tuesday, November 6th at 1:00pm
Village East Cinema
181-189 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10003
RSVP to Kelly.Hargraves@firstrunfeatures.com
CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE PRESS RELEASE, WITH LINKS TO THE OFFICIAL TRAILER AND FIRST RUN FEATURES CONTACT
Contact: Kelly Hargraves
(323) 493-1548
kelly.hargraves@firstrunfeatures.com
Sandra Luckow's Documentary Opens December 14 in New York & Los Angeles
NYC & LA Press Screening Info Below
Interviews available upon request
First Run Features is proud to announce the theatrical premiere of That Way Madness Lies…, a new documentary directed by award-winning filmmaker Sandra Luckow. The film opens in New York and Los Angeles on December 14, 2018.
What do you do when your brother descends into a black hole of mental instability – starting with falling for a Nigerian email scam but eventually winding up involuntary committed into the hospital made famous by One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest?
Luckow unflinchingly turns her camera on her own family as they attempt to navigate the broken mental health system in an effort to save her brother, Duanne. His iPhone video diary ultimately becomes an unfiltered look at the mind of a man with untreated schizophrenia as well as an indictment of how the system failed.
Press Screening Information
Los Angeles
Saturday, October 27th at 2:00pm
Laemmle Royal
11523 Santa Monica Blvd, 1st Floor,
Los Angeles, CA 90025
New York City
Tuesday, November 6th at 1:00pm
Village East Cinema
181-189 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10003
RSVP to Kelly.Hargraves@firstrunfeatures.com
CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE PRESS RELEASE, WITH LINKS TO THE OFFICIAL TRAILER AND FIRST RUN FEATURES CONTACT
Montclair Local
‘MADNESS’ DOCUMENTS LOOPHOLES IN MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEM, AT MONTCLAIR FILM

By GWEN OREL
orel@montclairlocal.news
For a long time, Duanne Luckow has been a little quirky, in an ordinary way. He rebuilds cars. In high school in the early ’80s, he takes photographs of girls and makes films, often fictional secret agent films, starring himself.
By Dec. 8, 2010, he’s standing on the top of a waterfall, claiming to be from the planet Pluto, and calling a YouTube guru he’s never met his twin flame, threatening to commit suicide.
Shortly after that, he’s involuntarily committed to Oregon State Hospital (the setting of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”), charged for the stay, and released, with nowhere to go.
“That Way Madness Lies…,” however, isn’t about the abuse of patients in the hospital.
Click here to read the full story.
orel@montclairlocal.news
For a long time, Duanne Luckow has been a little quirky, in an ordinary way. He rebuilds cars. In high school in the early ’80s, he takes photographs of girls and makes films, often fictional secret agent films, starring himself.
By Dec. 8, 2010, he’s standing on the top of a waterfall, claiming to be from the planet Pluto, and calling a YouTube guru he’s never met his twin flame, threatening to commit suicide.
Shortly after that, he’s involuntarily committed to Oregon State Hospital (the setting of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”), charged for the stay, and released, with nowhere to go.
“That Way Madness Lies…,” however, isn’t about the abuse of patients in the hospital.
Click here to read the full story.
The Sentinel-Record
Luckow named keynote speaker at Hot Springs Women's Film Festival

Story by Grace Brown
Tuesday, March 13, 2018
Filmmaker Sandra Luckow will be the keynote speaker at the Hot Springs International Women's Film Festival, the event's director announced Monday.
According to her biography, Luckow began her filmmaking career as an undergraduate at Yale University where she now teaches documentary and narrative film production. She also teaches at Barnard College and Columbia University.
"We chose Sandra as the keynote speaker partially because of the film submitted and then because of her credentials. She had a wealth of information about the film industry and her film presents an incredible amount of information about mental health," festival Director Bill Volland said Monday. [...]
Click here to read the full story.
Columbia University Student News BWOG
Madness And Family: On Sandra Luckow’s Moving Documentary
Written by RIYA MIRCHANDANEY
March 07, 2018 8:07 pm
Barnard film professor Sandra Luckow recently released a new documentary, That Way Madness Lies…, which was seven years in the making. Staff writer Riya Mirchandaney went to check it out.
“It is essentially the destruction of my family,” remarked Professor Sandra Luckow, by way of introducing her documentary “That Way Madness Lies…” Luckow’s comment was striking in its accuracy, for while the documentary was disguised as a story about her brother Duanne’s struggle with paranoid schizophrenia and the myriad of ways in which the systems in power failed him, the systems—that is, law and medicine—were only a backdrop for the story at the film’s core, a story of a resilient, desperate family drowning within itself, trying to cope with the series of traumas that hit them, without the luxury of being able to ask why any of this was happening. [...]
Click here to read the full story.
March 07, 2018 8:07 pm
Barnard film professor Sandra Luckow recently released a new documentary, That Way Madness Lies…, which was seven years in the making. Staff writer Riya Mirchandaney went to check it out.
“It is essentially the destruction of my family,” remarked Professor Sandra Luckow, by way of introducing her documentary “That Way Madness Lies…” Luckow’s comment was striking in its accuracy, for while the documentary was disguised as a story about her brother Duanne’s struggle with paranoid schizophrenia and the myriad of ways in which the systems in power failed him, the systems—that is, law and medicine—were only a backdrop for the story at the film’s core, a story of a resilient, desperate family drowning within itself, trying to cope with the series of traumas that hit them, without the luxury of being able to ask why any of this was happening. [...]
Click here to read the full story.
Yale Daily News
After the Storm
JAKE KALODNER & NICK TABIO, Staff Reporters
FEB 02, 2018
A schizophrenic brother, his sister and their attempt to traverse the mental health care machine: “That Way Madness Lies” tells a deeply moving and engaging interpersonal story between filmmaker Sandra Luckow and her brother Duanne. The title of the documentary comes from Act 3, Scene 4 of Shakespeare’s “King Lear.” In the namesake scene, Lear laments his inner demons and struggle to cope with the madness that overwhelms him — representative of Duanne and his own storm of mental illness. [...]
Click here to read the full story.
FEB 02, 2018
A schizophrenic brother, his sister and their attempt to traverse the mental health care machine: “That Way Madness Lies” tells a deeply moving and engaging interpersonal story between filmmaker Sandra Luckow and her brother Duanne. The title of the documentary comes from Act 3, Scene 4 of Shakespeare’s “King Lear.” In the namesake scene, Lear laments his inner demons and struggle to cope with the madness that overwhelms him — representative of Duanne and his own storm of mental illness. [...]
Click here to read the full story.
Daily Fashion Report: Wednesdays at Michael's by Diane Clehane
Documentary Filmmaker Sandra Luckow On Tonya Harding & 'Madness'

I’ve always believed real life is much stranger than fiction and this week’s lunch date at Michael’s, documentary filmmaker Sandra Luckow, has made a career about proving just how true that old chestnut really is. When our mutual friend, Stu Zakim, asked me if I wanted to meet Sandra to talk about her latest work, That Way Madness Lies, I jumped at the chance. [...]
Click here to read the rest of the story.
Click here to read the rest of the story.
Yale Daily News:
Art Professor screens new documentary
by Bianka Ukleja
12:34 AM, JAN 26, 2018
Filmmaker Sandra Luckow knows how important her new film THAT WAY MADNESS LIES… will be for the Yale community and for the city of New Haven — after all she spent the last seven years making this documentary about her schizophrenic brother, Duane, who has cycled in and out of institutions in a broken mental […]
Click here to read the full story.
12:34 AM, JAN 26, 2018
Filmmaker Sandra Luckow knows how important her new film THAT WAY MADNESS LIES… will be for the Yale community and for the city of New Haven — after all she spent the last seven years making this documentary about her schizophrenic brother, Duane, who has cycled in and out of institutions in a broken mental […]
Click here to read the full story.
PRESS RELEASE:
"That Way Madness Lies…" to be Screened at Yale University Whitney Humanities Center Auditorium, Sunday, Jan. 28, 2018, at 3 pm. Q&A with filmmaker Sandra Luckow.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
“THAT WAY MADNESS LIES…”
To be screened at Yale University, Whitney Humanities Center Auditorium, 53 Wall Street, New Haven, Connecticut.
Sunday, January 28. 2018 at 3:00pm
Q&A with filmmaker Sandra Luckow
New Haven, Connecticut, January 2, 2018 – THAT WAY MADNESS LIES…, a feature length documentary about severe mental illness and its effects on a family, their struggles with the mental health system and the law enforcement system, will be shown on Sunday, Jan. 28, at 3:00 pm, to be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker and School of Art faculty Sandra Luckow. This free public screening is sponsored by the Yale School of Art, the Film and Media Studies Program and Film at the Whitney. First responders in law enforcement and crisis management are especially encouraged and welcome to attend.
“Most honest portrayal of how severe mental illness ravages families and lives that I’ve seen!” - Pete Earley, author of CRAZY: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness.
Film synopsis: One woman and her family trek the broken mental health system in an effort to save her brother as he descends into madness. Beginning as a testimony of his sanity, his iPhone diary ultimately becomes an unfiltered look at the mind of an untreated schizophrenic.
Duanne Luckow, 46, began a scary, dangerous and ever-escalating cycle of arrests, incarcerations and mental institutional stays. Three months into his 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. With their cameras, they expose an ineffectual and inhuman system as well as delve deep into the strength of family ties. Yale School of Medicine and the Global Mental Health Program at Columbia University say the iPhone footage Duanne shot as he descended into madness offers a rare, unprecedented, unfiltered look at the mind of an untreated schizophrenic. 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.
“The title of the film, THAT WAY MADNESS LIES…is a quote from Shakespeare’s King Lear, Act III, Scene IV. It speaks to the complications of dealing with mental illness, and our own uncertainties as to which direction we should pursue towards wellness and peace. “It is my greatest hope that this film will be an agent for changing the way we deal with our mental health in America,” says director Luckow.
“This is the only film that I know of that has risen to the task of representing the terrors and tragedies of psychosis accurately and with immediacy and therefore the only one I know of that can truly serve educational and advocacy functions in changing the mental health system to one that promotes recovery and community inclusion as opposed to chronicity and dependency.” – said Larry Davidson, Ph.D. Professor of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, one of the many psychiatric professionals around the United States who have called this film an important and accurate depiction of mental illness — one that should be seen by policy makers and those who care about the care and treatment of people living with mental illness in America.
The screening on Sunday January 28th at 3:00pm is an attempt to initiate important discussions among the people who think about and work in mental health care. For further information about the film please visit the film’s website at www.madnessthemovie.com.
###
For more information: Media or Sales representatives’ contact:
Stuart Zakim
Bridge Strategic Communications
stu@bridgestrategic.com
732-754-9051
www.bridgestrategic.com
“THAT WAY MADNESS LIES…”
To be screened at Yale University, Whitney Humanities Center Auditorium, 53 Wall Street, New Haven, Connecticut.
Sunday, January 28. 2018 at 3:00pm
Q&A with filmmaker Sandra Luckow
New Haven, Connecticut, January 2, 2018 – THAT WAY MADNESS LIES…, a feature length documentary about severe mental illness and its effects on a family, their struggles with the mental health system and the law enforcement system, will be shown on Sunday, Jan. 28, at 3:00 pm, to be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker and School of Art faculty Sandra Luckow. This free public screening is sponsored by the Yale School of Art, the Film and Media Studies Program and Film at the Whitney. First responders in law enforcement and crisis management are especially encouraged and welcome to attend.
“Most honest portrayal of how severe mental illness ravages families and lives that I’ve seen!” - Pete Earley, author of CRAZY: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness.
Film synopsis: One woman and her family trek the broken mental health system in an effort to save her brother as he descends into madness. Beginning as a testimony of his sanity, his iPhone diary ultimately becomes an unfiltered look at the mind of an untreated schizophrenic.
Duanne Luckow, 46, began a scary, dangerous and ever-escalating cycle of arrests, incarcerations and mental institutional stays. Three months into his 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. With their cameras, they expose an ineffectual and inhuman system as well as delve deep into the strength of family ties. Yale School of Medicine and the Global Mental Health Program at Columbia University say the iPhone footage Duanne shot as he descended into madness offers a rare, unprecedented, unfiltered look at the mind of an untreated schizophrenic. 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.
“The title of the film, THAT WAY MADNESS LIES…is a quote from Shakespeare’s King Lear, Act III, Scene IV. It speaks to the complications of dealing with mental illness, and our own uncertainties as to which direction we should pursue towards wellness and peace. “It is my greatest hope that this film will be an agent for changing the way we deal with our mental health in America,” says director Luckow.
“This is the only film that I know of that has risen to the task of representing the terrors and tragedies of psychosis accurately and with immediacy and therefore the only one I know of that can truly serve educational and advocacy functions in changing the mental health system to one that promotes recovery and community inclusion as opposed to chronicity and dependency.” – said Larry Davidson, Ph.D. Professor of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, one of the many psychiatric professionals around the United States who have called this film an important and accurate depiction of mental illness — one that should be seen by policy makers and those who care about the care and treatment of people living with mental illness in America.
The screening on Sunday January 28th at 3:00pm is an attempt to initiate important discussions among the people who think about and work in mental health care. For further information about the film please visit the film’s website at www.madnessthemovie.com.
###
For more information: Media or Sales representatives’ contact:
Stuart Zakim
Bridge Strategic Communications
stu@bridgestrategic.com
732-754-9051
www.bridgestrategic.com
Global Mental Health Program at Columbia University BLOG:
Five on Friday
Shakespeare was the master of tragedy. And King Lear is the quintessential tragic hero. Driven to madness by a cosmic collision of errors and misfortune, King Lear laments, “O, that way madness lies; let me shun that; No more of that.” Yes, noble men, even King Lear, can succumb to insanity.
Read the rest of the article here.
Read the rest of the article here.
Columbia Spectator (Columbia University):
Film Professor Sandra Luckow Wants To Change Our Minds About Mental Health
“I had a very tough day yesterday,” adjunct assistant professor Sandra Luckow confesses. Yesterday, she explains, was her older brother Duanne’s 54th birthday.
“He is sitting in a jail because he is mentally ill,” Luckow says bluntly.
Read the rest of the article here.
“He is sitting in a jail because he is mentally ill,” Luckow says bluntly.
Read the rest of the article here.
FORKED RIVER GAZETTE:
STOCKTON CENTER ON SUCCESSFUL AGING AND THE LIGHTHOUSE INTERNATIONAL FILM SOCIETY PRESENT -THAT WAY MADNESS LIES-IN GALLOWAY

The Stockton Center on Successful Aging and the Lighthouse International Film Society are sponsoring a free documentary film, That Way Madness Lies, and Q&A on Friday, November 3, 2017 at 7pm, in the Alton Auditorium at Stockton University, 101 Vera King Farris Dr., Galloway, NJ 08205.
Sandra Luckow’s documentary film That Way Madness Lies tells of a family upended by escalating mental illness, arrests, incarcerations and their quest to find mental health care….
Read the rest of the article here.
Sandra Luckow’s documentary film That Way Madness Lies tells of a family upended by escalating mental illness, arrests, incarcerations and their quest to find mental health care….
Read the rest of the article here.
PRESS RELEASE:
"That Way Madness Lies…" Official Selection for 2017 Festival Angaelica at Big Bear Lake, California
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
“THAT WAY MADNESS LIES…” OFFICIAL SELECTION FOR 2017 FESTIVAL ANGAELICA at Big Bear Lake, California
Documentary to be shown on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017, at 2:30 pm at Big Bear Performing Arts Center - Green Room
New York City, New York, August 30, 2017 – THAT WAY MADNESS LIES…, a feature length documentary about mental illness and its effects on a family, their struggles with the mental health system and the law enforcement system, will be screened at Festival Angaelica at Big Bear Lake, California, on Saturday, September 23 at 2:30 pm at the Big Bear Performing Arts Center, Green Room.
Duanne Luckow, 46, began a scary, dangerous and ever-escalating cycle of arrests, incarcerations and mental institutional stays. Three months into his 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. With their cameras, they expose an ineffectual and inhuman system as well as delve deep into the strength of family ties. Yale School of Medicine and the Global Initiative on Mental Health at Columbia University say the iPhone footage Duanne shot as he descended into madness offers a rare, unprecedented, unfiltered look at the mind of an untreated schizophrenic 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.
“The title of the film, THAT WAY MADNESS LIES… is a quote from Shakespeare’s King Lear, Act III, Scene IV. It speaks to the complications of dealing with mental illness, and our own uncertainties as to which direction we should pursue towards wellness and peace. It is my greatest hope that this film will be an agent for changing the way we deal with our mental health in America,” says director Luckow.
“This is the only film that I know of that has risen to the task of representing the terrors and tragedies of psychosis accurately and with immediacy and therefore the only one I know of that can truly serve educational and advocacy functions in changing the mental health system to one that promotes recovery and community inclusion as opposed to chronicity and dependency.” – said Larry Davidson, Ph.D. Professor of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, one of the many psychiatric professionals around the United States who have called this film an important and accurate depiction of mental illness — one that should be seen by policy makers and those who care about the care and treatment of people living with mental illness in America. Conservatively estimated, untreated mental illness costs the United States approximately $200 billion dollars annually, which is far more than if we implemented a comprehensive system of treatment.
The socially and environmentally conscious Festival Angaelica celebrates film in a beautiful natural setting. THAT WAY MADNESS LIES... will be paired with the short "Please Forgive My Pain," comprising the festival's mini-series of mental health documentaries.
###
For more information: Media or Sales representatives contact:
Stuart Zakim
Bridge Strategic Communications
stu@bridgestrategic.com
732-754-9051
www.bridgestrategic.com
“THAT WAY MADNESS LIES…” OFFICIAL SELECTION FOR 2017 FESTIVAL ANGAELICA at Big Bear Lake, California
Documentary to be shown on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017, at 2:30 pm at Big Bear Performing Arts Center - Green Room
New York City, New York, August 30, 2017 – THAT WAY MADNESS LIES…, a feature length documentary about mental illness and its effects on a family, their struggles with the mental health system and the law enforcement system, will be screened at Festival Angaelica at Big Bear Lake, California, on Saturday, September 23 at 2:30 pm at the Big Bear Performing Arts Center, Green Room.
Duanne Luckow, 46, began a scary, dangerous and ever-escalating cycle of arrests, incarcerations and mental institutional stays. Three months into his 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. With their cameras, they expose an ineffectual and inhuman system as well as delve deep into the strength of family ties. Yale School of Medicine and the Global Initiative on Mental Health at Columbia University say the iPhone footage Duanne shot as he descended into madness offers a rare, unprecedented, unfiltered look at the mind of an untreated schizophrenic 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.
“The title of the film, THAT WAY MADNESS LIES… is a quote from Shakespeare’s King Lear, Act III, Scene IV. It speaks to the complications of dealing with mental illness, and our own uncertainties as to which direction we should pursue towards wellness and peace. It is my greatest hope that this film will be an agent for changing the way we deal with our mental health in America,” says director Luckow.
“This is the only film that I know of that has risen to the task of representing the terrors and tragedies of psychosis accurately and with immediacy and therefore the only one I know of that can truly serve educational and advocacy functions in changing the mental health system to one that promotes recovery and community inclusion as opposed to chronicity and dependency.” – said Larry Davidson, Ph.D. Professor of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, one of the many psychiatric professionals around the United States who have called this film an important and accurate depiction of mental illness — one that should be seen by policy makers and those who care about the care and treatment of people living with mental illness in America. Conservatively estimated, untreated mental illness costs the United States approximately $200 billion dollars annually, which is far more than if we implemented a comprehensive system of treatment.
The socially and environmentally conscious Festival Angaelica celebrates film in a beautiful natural setting. THAT WAY MADNESS LIES... will be paired with the short "Please Forgive My Pain," comprising the festival's mini-series of mental health documentaries.
###
For more information: Media or Sales representatives contact:
Stuart Zakim
Bridge Strategic Communications
stu@bridgestrategic.com
732-754-9051
www.bridgestrategic.com
PRESS RELEASE:
"That Way Madness Lies…" Official Selection for the Beacon Independent Film Festival

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
“THAT WAY MADNESS LIES…” OFFICIAL SELECTION FOR THE BEACON INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL
Documentary to be shown on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017 in upstate New York
New York City, New York, July 28, 2017 – THAT WAY MADNESS LIES…, a feature length documentary about mental illness and its effects on a family, their struggles with the mental health system and the law enforcement system, has been accepted to the Beacon Independent Film Festival taking place in Beacon, NY from Sept. 15 – 17, 2017.
Duanne Luckow, 46, began a scary, dangerous and ever-escalating cycle of arrests, incarcerations and mental institutional stays. Three months into his 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. With their cameras, they expose an ineffectual and inhuman system as well as delve deep into the strength of family ties. Yale School of Medicine and the Global Initiative on Mental Health at Columbia University say the iPhone footage Duanne shot as he descended into madness offers a rare, unprecedented, unfiltered look at the mind of an untreated schizophrenic 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.
“The title of the film, THAT WAY MADNESS LIES… is a quote from Shakespeare’s King Lear, Act III, Scene IV. It speaks to the complications of dealing with mental illness, and our own uncertainties as to which direction we should pursue towards wellness and peace. It is my greatest hope that this film will be an agent for changing the way we deal with our mental health in America,” says director Luckow.
“This is the only film that I know of that has risen to the task of representing the terrors and tragedies of psychosis accurately and with immediacy and therefore the only one I know of that can truly serve educational and advocacy functions in changing the mental health system to one that promotes recovery and community inclusion as opposed to chronicity and dependency.” – said Larry Davidson, Ph.D. Professor of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, one of the many psychiatric professionals around the United States who have called this film an important and accurate depiction of mental illness — one that should be seen by policy makers and those who care about the care and treatment of people living with mental illness in America
The Beacon IFF screening of THAT WAY MADNESS LIES… takes place Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017 in Beacon, NY at University Settlement.
###
For more information: Media or Sales representatives contact:
Stuart Zakim
Bridge Strategic Communications
stu@bridgestrategic.com
732-754-9051
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“THAT WAY MADNESS LIES…” OFFICIAL SELECTION FOR THE BEACON INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL
Documentary to be shown on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017 in upstate New York
New York City, New York, July 28, 2017 – THAT WAY MADNESS LIES…, a feature length documentary about mental illness and its effects on a family, their struggles with the mental health system and the law enforcement system, has been accepted to the Beacon Independent Film Festival taking place in Beacon, NY from Sept. 15 – 17, 2017.
Duanne Luckow, 46, began a scary, dangerous and ever-escalating cycle of arrests, incarcerations and mental institutional stays. Three months into his 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. With their cameras, they expose an ineffectual and inhuman system as well as delve deep into the strength of family ties. Yale School of Medicine and the Global Initiative on Mental Health at Columbia University say the iPhone footage Duanne shot as he descended into madness offers a rare, unprecedented, unfiltered look at the mind of an untreated schizophrenic 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.
“The title of the film, THAT WAY MADNESS LIES… is a quote from Shakespeare’s King Lear, Act III, Scene IV. It speaks to the complications of dealing with mental illness, and our own uncertainties as to which direction we should pursue towards wellness and peace. It is my greatest hope that this film will be an agent for changing the way we deal with our mental health in America,” says director Luckow.
“This is the only film that I know of that has risen to the task of representing the terrors and tragedies of psychosis accurately and with immediacy and therefore the only one I know of that can truly serve educational and advocacy functions in changing the mental health system to one that promotes recovery and community inclusion as opposed to chronicity and dependency.” – said Larry Davidson, Ph.D. Professor of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, one of the many psychiatric professionals around the United States who have called this film an important and accurate depiction of mental illness — one that should be seen by policy makers and those who care about the care and treatment of people living with mental illness in America
The Beacon IFF screening of THAT WAY MADNESS LIES… takes place Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017 in Beacon, NY at University Settlement.
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For more information: Media or Sales representatives contact:
Stuart Zakim
Bridge Strategic Communications
stu@bridgestrategic.com
732-754-9051
www.bridgestrategic.com
Global Mental Health Program at Columbia University BLOG:
Five on Friday

Friday June 2, 2017
By Kathleen M. Pike, PhD, Professor of Psychology &
Director of the Mental Health Program at CUMC
That Way Madness Lies...
Shakespeare was the master of tragedy. And King Lear is the quintessential tragic hero. Driven to madness by a cosmic collision of errors and misfortune, King Lear laments, “O, that way madness lies; let me shun that; No more of that.”
Yes, noble men can succumb to insanity. So can noble institutions. And so it is that our psychiatric hospitals, mental health policies, and legal systems can seem downright insane at times. That Way Madness Lies…is a documentary by filmmaker Sandra Luckow that portrays the descent of her brother, Duanne, into psychosis. It also captures the crazy, broken mental health system that the family encounters in their desperate efforts to help Duanne.
Read the rest of the blog here.
By Kathleen M. Pike, PhD, Professor of Psychology &
Director of the Mental Health Program at CUMC
That Way Madness Lies...
Shakespeare was the master of tragedy. And King Lear is the quintessential tragic hero. Driven to madness by a cosmic collision of errors and misfortune, King Lear laments, “O, that way madness lies; let me shun that; No more of that.”
Yes, noble men can succumb to insanity. So can noble institutions. And so it is that our psychiatric hospitals, mental health policies, and legal systems can seem downright insane at times. That Way Madness Lies…is a documentary by filmmaker Sandra Luckow that portrays the descent of her brother, Duanne, into psychosis. It also captures the crazy, broken mental health system that the family encounters in their desperate efforts to help Duanne.
Read the rest of the blog here.
Huffington post BLOG:
A Common Struggle Is What Binds Us

May 14, 2017
By Janine Francolini, Founder of The Flawless Foundation
I left Boston reflecting on the positivity and personal stories of the event, as well as thinking about and communicating with a Flawless Foundation colleague, who, as I rode the late night train to New York, was in Portland Oregon, at the first public screening of the film That Way Madness Lies. The film shares the deeply personal story of one man’s life with untreated schizophrenia...
Read the rest of the blog here.
By Janine Francolini, Founder of The Flawless Foundation
I left Boston reflecting on the positivity and personal stories of the event, as well as thinking about and communicating with a Flawless Foundation colleague, who, as I rode the late night train to New York, was in Portland Oregon, at the first public screening of the film That Way Madness Lies. The film shares the deeply personal story of one man’s life with untreated schizophrenia...
Read the rest of the blog here.
Willamette Week review:
Filmed Over Six Years, That Way Madness Lies Looks at a Family Upended by Mental Illness — 4/4 Stars

May 10, 2017
By Walker MacMurdo
One devastating moment in Sandra Luckow's new documentary, That Way Madness Lies, takes place in a Clackamas County post office.
Sandra's brother Duanne is deep in debt. He has just sold a rare car part to a collector in Australia, and he's received a check for $1,500. Behind the camera, Sandra asks the soft-spoken but excited Duanne what he's going to do with the money. He calmly explains to her that he's going to send it to Nigeria. "Then, I will have $10.5 million deposited in my Key Bank account," he says.
Read the rest of the review here.
By Walker MacMurdo
One devastating moment in Sandra Luckow's new documentary, That Way Madness Lies, takes place in a Clackamas County post office.
Sandra's brother Duanne is deep in debt. He has just sold a rare car part to a collector in Australia, and he's received a check for $1,500. Behind the camera, Sandra asks the soft-spoken but excited Duanne what he's going to do with the money. He calmly explains to her that he's going to send it to Nigeria. "Then, I will have $10.5 million deposited in my Key Bank account," he says.
Read the rest of the review here.
Portland Premiere press tour
"That Way Madness Lies..." premiered in Portland, Oregon on May 11, 2017. During the week leading up to the screening, filmmaker Sandra Luckow appeared on a number of TV and radio shows:
KATU interview with Tre'Renee Chambers on Afternoon Live - May 9, 2017
KGW interview on Portland Today - May 11, 2017]
KINK interview with Sheila Hamilton - May 2017
X-RAY.fm interview (STARTS AT 1:50:08) - May 12, 2017
KATU interview with Tre'Renee Chambers on Afternoon Live - May 9, 2017
KGW interview on Portland Today - May 11, 2017]
KINK interview with Sheila Hamilton - May 2017
X-RAY.fm interview (STARTS AT 1:50:08) - May 12, 2017
Press release:
"That Way Madness Lies..." wins Indie-Fest Award

(New York, NY, February 16, 2017) – Filmmaker Sandra Luckow, of Ojeda Films, Inc., has won a prestigious Award of Merit – Special Recognition from the IndieFEST Film Awards. The award was given for Sandra’s profound and personal feature-length documentary, “That Way Madness Lies…” about her brother’s decent into paranoid schizophrenia. The film is an unflinching first-person account of a relentless, untreated illness; a journey through a broken mental health system; and the disintegration of a creative family.
“After 7 years making the film, living the story, and worrying about being so vulnerable and exposing of my family, it is wholly validating to be recognized by IndieFEST. I only wish the judges could have seen more than a rough cut,” said Luckow in a statement. “I hope the film, in its finished form, will be a call to action, changing the way we perceive and take care of those afflicted with mental illness. Because our current system... that way madness lies…”
The IndieFEST Film Awards recognizes film, television, videography and new media professionals who demonstrate exceptional achievement in craft and creativity, and those who produce standout entertainment or contribute to profound social change. Entries are judged by highly qualified professionals in the film and television industry. Information about the IndieFEST and a list of recent winners can be found at www.theindiefest.com.
“After 7 years making the film, living the story, and worrying about being so vulnerable and exposing of my family, it is wholly validating to be recognized by IndieFEST. I only wish the judges could have seen more than a rough cut,” said Luckow in a statement. “I hope the film, in its finished form, will be a call to action, changing the way we perceive and take care of those afflicted with mental illness. Because our current system... that way madness lies…”
The IndieFEST Film Awards recognizes film, television, videography and new media professionals who demonstrate exceptional achievement in craft and creativity, and those who produce standout entertainment or contribute to profound social change. Entries are judged by highly qualified professionals in the film and television industry. Information about the IndieFEST and a list of recent winners can be found at www.theindiefest.com.
The Yale Daily News Article:
Filmmaker receives grant for new look at mental illness

The Artemis Rising Foundation recently awarded Sandra Luckow ’87, a lecturer and critic in film production in the School of Art, a grant of $150,000 to $250,000 to complete her documentary “That Way Madness Lies.”
Focusing on her brother Duanne’s experience with paranoid schizophrenia, the film uses his vast collection of iPhone video clips to chronicle his “progressive descent into madness.” According to Luckow and Regina Scully, founder and CEO of the Artemis Rising Foundation, “That Way Madness Lies” differs from other documentaries about mental illness in that it tells the story from the perspective of those around the person suffering and gives audiences a window into the world of untreated psychological trauma....
Read the entire January 27, 2016 Yale Daily News Article
Focusing on her brother Duanne’s experience with paranoid schizophrenia, the film uses his vast collection of iPhone video clips to chronicle his “progressive descent into madness.” According to Luckow and Regina Scully, founder and CEO of the Artemis Rising Foundation, “That Way Madness Lies” differs from other documentaries about mental illness in that it tells the story from the perspective of those around the person suffering and gives audiences a window into the world of untreated psychological trauma....
Read the entire January 27, 2016 Yale Daily News Article
The Oregonian Article:
FilmMaker copes with fears, reality of Oregon brother's mental illness

The first text arrived as Sandra Luckow wrote her mother's obituary.
"Are you OK?" a friend asked. "Where are you?"
The message made no sense to Luckow, a New York-based filmmaker, as she sat at her parents' Oregon City dining room table on that Tuesday evening last December. Her mother had died a day earlier, four days after falling from a ladder while pulling a box of Christmas decorations down from a garage loft….
Read the entire April 6, 2013 Oregonian Article
"Are you OK?" a friend asked. "Where are you?"
The message made no sense to Luckow, a New York-based filmmaker, as she sat at her parents' Oregon City dining room table on that Tuesday evening last December. Her mother had died a day earlier, four days after falling from a ladder while pulling a box of Christmas decorations down from a garage loft….
Read the entire April 6, 2013 Oregonian Article
Forbes Article:
Exploitation Or Honesty: Should Filmmaker Use Her Brother's iPhone Video Of His Own Madness?

The video is shaky, amateurish and utterly chilling. As the narrator films the crashing waters of 611-foot Multnomah Falls outside of Portland, Ore. with his iPhone, he informs viewers that he means business.
“I’m tired of the games,” he shouts, brandishing a Bible in front of the iPhone. He cuts to a vertigo-inducing shot of the rapids hundreds of feet below. “I’ve warned people, I’ve told people. I come from the planet Pluto!”....
Read the entire April 5, 2013
“I’m tired of the games,” he shouts, brandishing a Bible in front of the iPhone. He cuts to a vertigo-inducing shot of the rapids hundreds of feet below. “I’ve warned people, I’ve told people. I come from the planet Pluto!”....
Read the entire April 5, 2013
60 Minutes |

"That Way Madness Lies…" was featured in the segment "Imminent Danger" on the 2013 CBS 60 Minutes season premiere.
To watch the story, visit the CBS 60 Minutes site and search for "Imminent Danger."
To watch the story, visit the CBS 60 Minutes site and search for "Imminent Danger."