Recovery (2016)

Matthew Faulkner, now a 22-year-old graduate of Canisius college in Buffalo New York, gives us the story of a traumatic car accident and brain injury that changed his life. In March of 2009, his senior year of high school, Matt was in the back seat of a car when the vehicle he was riding in was T-boned by a pickup truck, leaving Matt in a several month-long coma. Matt was unconscious for weeks on end, with doctors unsure if he would survive and at risk of being pulled from life support. Luckily Matt was Mercy Flighted from the scene of the accident to Erie County Medical Center, where he would eventually regain consciousness, and relearn to speak, walk, and even drive again. Matt has no memory of the incident, thusly the documentary is a collaboration of interviews with Matt, his family, doctors and medical experts, nurses, friends, and all who were involved and touched by Matt's incredible recovery. The film will be about his physical recovery- but will also go into depth on his mental and social long-term challenges. Beyond this, the film will explore people closely tied to Matt before, during, and after the accident and show how they were effected by the incident. The film is constructed in four acts that reflect Sigmund Freud's four stages of recovery: tragedy, hope, persistence and recovery. The story is both heart wrenching and inspirational, and speaks to the broad human question, "How do we move on?" Through reenactments, extensive interviews and a look into Matthew's daily life we seek to answer that question and better understand something near and dear to all of us: Recovery.