2025 Richmond International Film Festival

Together: Family Recovery

Available in 07d 09h 15m 43s
Available September 23, 2025 4:00 PM UTC
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Together: Family Recovery is a powerful and intimate documentary that redefines what recovery can look like - through the lens of family. Rather than focusing solely on the individual struggling with addiction, the film follows three courageous families who have chosen to walk the path of healing together. From heartfelt interviews to vérité scenes of everyday resilience, we witness how each family member - parents, siblings, even grandparents - undergoes their own journey of growth, connection, and change.

Featuring industry leading expert voices like Kevin McCauley, Danielle Dick, and Jan Brown, Together offers a modern, hopeful approach to recovery that centers love, communication, and community. Whether it's revisiting childhood homes, attending support groups, or simply sharing a meal, the documentary captures the quiet, profound moments that define what it means to rebuild trust and rediscover family - together.

Director Biography - Jess Speight

Jess Speight is a documentary filmmaker from Richmond, Virginia, drawn to stories of resilience, identity, and human connection. A former University of Michigan football player, he holds degrees in Economics and Business Management and is currently pursuing his MFA in Film & Television Production at University of Southern California.

His debut feature, In This Moment, chronicles mindfulness coach Alex Peavey’s final year living with terminal cancer, featuring intimate vérité footage and interviews with former students like NFL quarterback Russell Wilson. His follow-up, Together: Family Recovery, shifts the lens to families healing from addiction -- spotlighting a modern, community-based approach to recovery and featuring leading experts in the field.

Jess is the founder of Rain Dance Productions, and his work blends emotional authenticity with a stylized, cinematic eye. His films aim to move audiences and ignite conversations around healing, presence, and the power of family.

Director Statement

When I first began this film, I thought I was telling a story about addiction. But what I discovered - through months of filming, listening, and sitting with these families - is that this is a story about connection. About showing up for one another when it’s hardest. About the quiet, often overlooked work of healing - not just as individuals, but together.

As someone who grew up in a tight-knit family and later found community through sports, I’ve always believed in the power of connection. Yet, I’d never seen a documentary that centered the family’s recovery journey - the parents, the siblings, the people behind the scenes who carry grief, hope, and hurt in equal measure. This film was made to change that.

Together: Family Recovery follows three families recount their recovery journey and explore vehicles for recovery. We filmed at kitchen tables, recovery circles, church services, golf courses, at rivers, and back country roads. These weren’t just backdrops - they were living parts of the families’ healing journeys.

I hope this film helps shift the way we talk about recovery - not as a solo fight, but as a family process. And I hope it helps someone feel a little less alone.

— Jess Speight

  • Year
    2025
  • Runtime
    01:24:08
  • Language
    English
  • Country
    United States
  • Director
    Jess Speight
  • Producer
    Jess Speight, Kathy Wrenn, Pam Lanhart, Shelly Young
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