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Living on Methadone

Sponsored Project

  • Mani Mehrvarz, Director/Producer
a young person with short, windblown blond hair standing beside a chain-link fence under a bright blue sky with large white clouds. They are wearing a gray denim-style jacket and appear to be looking through or past the fence with a quiet, reflective expression.

About the Project

Living on Methadone is a feature hybrid documentary that follows people navigating one of the most effective yet most stigmatized treatments for opioid addiction. Through intimate verité footage, expert insight, historical context, poetic animation, and a composite character built from real patient interviews, the film reveals the daily tension between survival and control inside America’s methadone treatment system. Centering stories of recovery, relapse, grief, motherhood, and resilience, Living on Methadone challenges stigma and asks what a more humane, evidence-based future for addiction treatment could look like.