‘Surviving Pulse’ opens Reel Deal Film Festival
“Surviving Pulse,” an unflinching and emotional look at those who survived the 2016 mass shooting at the Orlando nightclub, may be an unusual choice to headline a film festival’s opening gala. But to the Reel Deal Film Festival’s Carolena Saccone, it was an essential one.
“What happens after it’s all ‘over’? How can we get mental health to these people?” said Saccone, who runs the March 2-5 festival in New Smyrna Beach. “This film is a conversation starter.”
Filmmaker Alexa Sheehan, a 1994 Rollins College graduate who directed the documentary, feels the same.
“There’s art in it, but I didn’t find it an art piece,” said Sheehan, who moved to New Smyrna Beach a year prior to the Pulse shooting. “It’s a statement piece. These people need help.”
Subtitled “Life After a Mass Shooting,” “Surviving Pulse” opens with graphic and dramatic footage of the June 12, 2016, attack in which a lone gunman killed 49 people during Latin night at the gay-friendly club south of downtown Orlando.
But the story the film tells from there focuses not on the dead but those who survived or were otherwise affected by the tragedy. Providing stark evidence about how the shooting still affects survivors today, the film ends with follow-up interviews with its subjects, all people of color, conducted in 2021.
“It’s not a queer movie, it’s not a Black movie, it’s not political, it’s not religious, it’s a human movie,” said Robin Harris, a community activist who features in “Surviving Pulse.” “We were trying to uplift those voices that had been muted or overlooked.”
It wasn’t an easy movie to make,
Sheehan said, as the interviewees shared their trauma — lengthy physical recoveries, post-traumatic stress disorder, survivor’s guilt.
“I had to apologize because I was visibly weeping behind the camera, asking my questions,” Sheehan said.
The movie debuted at Enzian Theater’s Florida Film Festival in 2022, where it was well received, Sheehan said. It also has been
screened at the Global Peace Film Festival and other fests, where the movie has picked up multiple awards.
Those involved with “Surviving Pulse” are hoping the more it is seen the more attention will be paid to the plight of those still struggling years after the shooting upended their lives. One survivor participating in the documentary talks about how hurt he is when a friend asks him, “You aren’t over that yet?”
“Sometimes it feels like nothing has changed since 2016,” Harris said. “Their pain is probably never going to go away.”
Sheehan said she was grateful that Saccone saw the importance of the movie.
“She saw it for what it is — a human interest story,” she said. “It humanizes people who are marginalized.”
Saccone said the movie embodied the spirit of the festival, which is the main fundraiser for the Reel
Film Foundation, a volunteer-led organization that works to build community through diversity while supporting young people interested in filmmaking or other communications-related careers.
This year’s festival also features a screening of “Hearts Road” and talk by its creator, Colin Finlay. A noted documentary photographer, Finlay has traveled the globe for decades to tell the stories of people and places through his art. His movie, “Hearts Road,” is a tribute to the subjects of his work.
More information and tickets are available at reeldealfilmfestival.com; note that some events have early ticket-sales deadlines. For example, tickets to the opening-night gala and “Surviving Pulse” screening must be purchased by Feb. 24.
Saccone hopes those who see “Surviving Pulse” will be moved by the universal spirit of humanity it depicts.
“Maybe you’ll see yourself or your brother or sister, daughter or son,” she said. “I hope people realize we’re all the same.”
Reel Deal Film Festival
What: Four days of independent films, opening with the documentary “Surviving Pulse.”
Where: Most events, including “Surviving Pulse,” are at the Brannon Center, 105 S. Riverside Drive in New Smyrna Beach. Other venues include Springhill Suites by Marriott, 512 Flagler Ave., and The Hub on Canal, 132 Canal St., both also in New Smyrna Beach.
When: March 2-5; ticket-purchase deadline for “Surviving Pulse” is Feb. 24.
Cost: Varies by event, starting at $10. “Surviving Pulse” is part of the opening gala, where tickets start at $45 and include food and wine.
Info: reeldealfilmfestival.com