Rat Park

a film series set in Vermont exploring addiction and the road to recovery

   Rat Park, a narrative mini series created and filmed in VT blurs the line between narrative film and public service announcement. Produced and directed by Cal Hopwood, VT based filmmaker and educator, the mini series is designed to be first and foremost entertaining, yet have a subtle undertone of social change when it comes to societal stigmas towards addiction/substance abuse and recovery. By drawing inspiration from personal experiences and using a controversial experiment conducted in the 1970’s on rats as a central metaphor, Hopwood and co-writer Nick Wright interweave multiple protagonists storylines in order to push the audience to reconsider where we have obtained our understanding of addiction and how evolving this understanding may help not only those suffering from addiction and substance abuse, but also solve a multitude of interconnected social issues facing Vermont, the Country and much of the world.

 

   The series Pilot will premiere online on September 24th.