Nami McHenry County Presents LITTLE THINGS At Raue Center

Raue Center For The Arts is proud to welcome the National Alliance on Mental Illness - McHenry County for an afternoon program on suicide prevention involving a screening of "Little Things" and a roundtable discussion by the cast and crew as well as local providers and resources on April 6, 2019. Doors will open at 1:30 p.m. and the screening will begin at 2 p.m.

"This film tackles the struggle of living life with the 'little things' that can become too hard to deal with and can lead to thoughts of suicide," says NAMI McHenry County Executive Director, Alex F. Campbell. "NAMI-MC, serving McHenry County for over 30 years, offers support, education, and advocacy for those living with mental health conditions and their families at no cost thanks to generous donations."

Directed by local brothers, Adrian and Andrew Nuño, "Little Things" centers on a young woman named Teddy (Lauryn Lugo) who wanders about her hometown one night in search of meaning for her life. Despite meeting with her therapist (Jay Geller), Teddy feels crushed by the weight of everyday struggles. She ultimately decides to give herself more time hoping she will find the meaning of it all.

In that timespan, Teddy encounters several characters that influence her thoughts, whether it be a philosophical musician (Charlie Irving), a lost young man (Mateusz Wielomek) or a lovable diner couple (Keith Kelly and Anita Nicole Brown), they each teach her to find the silver linings in the "little things."

"Little Things" was a Grand Jury Winner at the 2019 Southern City Film Festival in Aiken, South Carolina. The film is produced by Kayleigh Jensen, the Nuño twins, and Lauryn Lugo. The film's screenplay is written by Lugo and is based off a short story by Andrew Nuño inspired by the brothers' work with NAMI speaking about mental health.

"This topic is important to us because mental illness affects everyone in some way, shape or form. It is imperative that we learn to do away with the taboo surrounding discussions on mental health in order to not only let mental health enter the mainstream but to save lives in the process," says Andrew. "We have been passionate about this since our time at McHenry County College and it is something we want to continue doing with our work."

Andrew originally wanted to develop a narrative surrounding a suicidal man in Chicago and how the simple but kind interactions he receives from strangers during a random night in the city change his outlook on life forever. When the Nuño twins decided to partner with Lugo on the project, she made the decision to switch out the male lead with a female lead and to change the setting to suburbia, a setting with which the content creators were more familiar.

"This allowed us to really make use of the settings that we all grew up with and it permitted us to juxtapose the beauty of suburbia at night with the ugliness of the choice our main character has in front of her," says Adrian of the changes.

This event is free to attend but donations are encouraged. A percentage of the donations will go back to the filmmakers as well as NAMI McHenry County. Parental guidance is suggested as the film contains mature language and themes. For more information, please visit rauecenter.org or namimchenrycounty.org.

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