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.