82 | APRIL 27 • 2023
I
n the opening scene of
Anxious Nation, we are
introduced to mother
and daughter, Laura and
Sevey Morton. It’s Sevey’s bat
mitzvah, Oct. 16, 2021, at
Temple Solel in Cardiff by the
Sea in California where the
two live nearby.
“While Sevey appears so
confident and self-possessed
in public, getting to this day
has not been easy for her.
Because since she was a baby,
she’s had an extremely anxious
existence,” says Morton,
who grew up in Southfield
and West Bloomfield, in a
voiceover.
Cut to a scene where Sevey
is having an “almost daily
colossal meltdown.”
“
Anxiety hurts my bones,”
says Sevey to the camera. “It
feels like a little piece of my
heart rips off every time …
It just makes my body stop
everything that it’s doing and
just break down.”
At the start of Mental
Health Awareness Month, the
award-winning documentary
Anxious Nation will premiere
during a worldwide livestream
at 7 p.m. on Wednesday,
May 3, and on most digital
platforms on May
5.
The livestream
on May 3 is
intended to be
a community-
wide event with
online comments
welcomed
throughout and an
interactive post-
screening panel
discussion led by Anxious
Nation Executive Producer
Kathy Ireland with Q&As
moderated by Joan Lunden.
Ireland, along with fellow
moms Morton, who has
written 60 books, 21 of which
are New York Times bestsellers;
and Academy Award winner
Vanessa Roth (Freeheld),
are tackling the anxiety and
mental health crisis impacting
kids, ages 11-26, and their
families.
Morton, a first-time
filmmaker, is producer, writer
and co-director
with Roth. After
three requests by
Morton, dating
back to 2019, Roth
finally agreed
to direct the
100-minute feature
documentary.
“This is not
a film I wanted
to make. As a
mom of three kids, it was
simply too close to home
for me … I do the best I can
as a mom, knowing I don’t
have all the answers, but
hope that contributing what
I could to making this film
that our kids feel seen, heard
and supported,” says Roth,
who won the “Humanitarian
Award” at the Coronado
Island Film Festival in
November 2022. “I hope
that we as a society make the
urgent changes needed to
give them all the resources
to create community and
meaning for themselves and
their future.”
Also at the Coronado Island
Film Festival 2022, Morton
and Roth took home the
“Fearless Female Filmmaker
Award” for Anxious Nation.
They won the “Young
Cineastes Award” at the Palm
Springs International Film
Festival in January.
“I suppose that one of the
silver linings to COVID is
that we talk about [anxiety]
more in 2023. But back in
2018, I didn’t know that it
was happening to everybody
else. I thought that it was just
happening in our home, and
ARTS&LIFE
FILM
Anxious Nation documentary to livestream May 3.
It’s Time We Talk About It
JULIE SMITH YOLLES CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Laura Morton
LEFT: Laura Morton and
her daughter, Sevey, at
Sevey’s bat mitzvah.