Filmmaker Bill Bennett reveals his four-year secret – living with Parkinson’s Disease - ahead of documentary film release, Facing Fear

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

10/26/2022

FILM

Filmmaker Bill Bennett reveals his four-year secret – living with Parkinson’s Disease - ahead of documentary film release, Facing Fear

“I’ve only told a few close friends,” Bill Bennett said. “Not even my mother knows. I told my wife of course but I didn’t tell my children for twelve months after I was diagnosed. I didn’t want them burdened with my issues.”

Bennett received the diagnosis from a neurologist three days after he turned sixty-five. Parkinson’s Disease is a progressive and incurable brain disease that affects 100,000 people in Australia, with 38 people being diagnosed every day.

“I didn’t want to tell anyone other than a few close friends because I didn’t want others judging me or labeling me,”Bennett said. “I’ve kept it secret for four years now but I have a film coming out in a week in which I discuss my fear associated with learning I have Parkinson’s, and so I can no longer hide.”

Living with this fear made making the film more personal for Bill as he came to terms with what was ahead of him.

Facing Fear is a film that details Bill’s global search to find ways to handle his fear. During the three years of production he sought out some of the world’s leading experts in fear management. He wanted to understand how fear worked, and how to best manage it.

“I figured that fear would only make my condition worse,”said Bennett. “And perhaps if I could get on top of my fear, I could get on top of my disease.”

Facing Fear is the sequel to Bill Bennett’s highly acclaimed film on intuition, PGS – Intuition is your Personal Guidance System.

***Official Selection Illuminate Film Festival, 2022***

Facing Fear has been selected for the 2022 Illuminate Film Festival in Sedona, Arizona– ILLUMINATE Film Festival, the nation’s premier conscious film festival, returns with a hybrid virtual and in-person format offering a stellar lineup of films, premieres, panels, Luminary Living Room workshops, parties, and special events for its 8^th annual showcase, Nov 5-6th in Sedona, AZ and Nov 6th -13th online.

ILLUMINATE has made it its mission to discover and exhibit cinematic gems that elevate consciousness and inspire personal, community and planetary transformation. The festival has aimed to foster and advance the genre of conscious cinema, earning it a reputation as the nation’s leading festival of its kind and a haven where conscious films and filmmakers are discovered, industry connections are made, enlightened ideas are shared, and audiences are transformed.

“I’m thrilled that Facing Fear has been accepted into the Illuminate Film Festival,” said filmmaker Bill Bennett, “and that the organisers are giving it a special Gala Presentation screening, with an extended Q&A and a workshop following. They say they want the film to be the centrepiece of an ‘immersive experience.’ It’s a great honour to have the film selected - it’s a very prestigious festival that I’ve admired for some time, and the perfect festival to launch the film in the US.”.

Producer Jennifer Cluff reacted to the news: “I was very excited to learn of this

selection into the festival - the Illuminate Film Festival is regarded as the top festival

the US, and arguably the world, for conscious cinema. You couldn’t wish for a better

showcase for Bill’s film, which I believe is one of the best explorations of fear that’s

ever been put to film.”

Screenings of Facing Fear available via FanForce from October 2022

Type: DOCUMENTARY

Duration: 87MIN

Year: 2022

Director: BILL BENNETT

Rating: G

Distribution (AU): FANFORCE

ABOUT BILL BENNETT

In a career spanning forty years, Bill Bennett has made numerous feature films and documentaries and won many awards, both in his home country of Australia, and internationally. He’s won Australian Film Institute Awards for Best Picture and Best Director (for his edgy Outback Noir, Kiss or Kill), and been nominated a further twelve times. His documentary work has been recognized with two Logies. His films have been distributed through several Hollywood studios and have screened at some of the world’s most prestigious film festivals. He’s had two films in Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival, four films at the Toronto Film Festival, and a gala screening at the New York Film Festival. He’s won the Crystal Globe for Best Picture at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, and had three major international retrospectives, including the Chicago Museum of Art’s Film Centre.

ABOUT FANFORCE

FanForce Films is part of the FanForce Group of companies - a group of Film and TV businesses established with the sole purpose of revolutionizing the pitching, production, marketing and distribution of films. Established in 2014 in Sydney, Australia, FanForce Films today distributes over 300 films across 37 countries for both theatrical and streaming environments.

For all interview requests, screening options and press materials, please contact:

Tiffany Brown - prstuntgirls@gmail.com - or visit www.illuminatefilmfestival.com