Hot Doc: Web Junkie

Award winning doc-makers’ look inside the world’s first rehab facility For “Internet Addicted” youth. A film by Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medalia Canadian Premiere engagement in Toronto beginning Friday, May 30 at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema

web junkieChina is the first country to diagnose “Internet Addiction” as a clinical disorder and WEB JUNKIE, a feature documentary by Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medalia is the first to put the spotlight on the revolutionary and controversial boot-camp like treatment used in Chinese Rehab Centres.

Professor Tao Ran, director of the world’s first rehab facility for “Internet Addicts” at Daxan Camp at Beijing Military Hospital opened the doors to the filmmakers who filmed for four months with unfettered access to staff and patients.  There, Prof. Ran promises to cure children of their addiction that has grown into one of China’s most feared public health hazards.

The program admits children between the ages of 13 and 18; they are forced to undergo military-inspired physical training and comply with monitored sleep and food standards.  Throughout their stay at the clinic, they are patrolled by the military guards who protect the children’s quarters, which like prison cells are surrounded by gates and fences. Despite such conditions, parents voluntarily send their children to the treatment center and relinquish personal involvement. There is no one-on-one therapy, and the children’s emotional needs are met with group therapy sessions twice a week. The treatment is very expensive, and parents often have no choice but to borrow money to finance sending their child to the clinic. For them it is worth it – to steer their kid away from this addiction and redevelop their real life communication skills is a top priority.

At Sundance where WEB JUNKIE made its World Premiere earlier this year, festival programmers said of the film,  “What starts out as an already-fascinating look… » at ways that technology may be destroying the lives of Chinese youth quickly becomes something more. As the unorthodox psychological sessions continue and the teenage boys begin to share with their parents the reasons why they feel more connected to disassociated voices in cyberspace than to their families, WEB JUNKIE chronicles the results of a nation going through one of most drastic transformations in human history. In honest and wrenching ways that transcend national borders, this film is a thoughtful examination of a society in flux and a technology-addled generation on the precipice of an unknown future.”

More info: http://www.webjunkiemovie.com/

Note: Director Shosh Shlam will be in Toronto for Q+A after Web Junkie screenings on Friday, May 30 and Saturday, May 31.

Trailer:

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