Still from As Prescribed, featuring Matt Samet. Courtesy of the filmmaker
Documentary is happy to debut an exclusive clip from Holly Hardman’s As Prescribed. This feature documentary exposes the personal and social consequences of U.S. overprescription of benzodiazepine medication like Xanax. After the film’s world premiere at Sheffield DocFest in 2022, the film’s VOD release is organized by the filmmakers and is now available through Apple, Google, Tubi, and more.
Regarding the clip, the director Hardman writes: “Writer Matt Samet, introduced here, is one of As Prescribed's benzodiazepine survivors. Matt earned a reputation as a world-class rock climber who mastered grades few others dared. But, like others in the film, the benzodiazepine his doctor prescribed for anxiety literally felled him, devastating his life. In As Prescribed, Matt struggles to heal, care for his family, and restore his climbing abilities.”
As Prescribed weaves Samet’s story with that of three other survivors. Hardman spent nearly a decade making As Prescribed. Previously, she directed Good People Go to Hell, Saved People Go to Heaven (2012), which premiered at IDFA, on the rise of Christian Evangelism in the U.S.