Wide Awake

Sunday December 7, 2008 at 10 pm ET/PT on CBC News Network

A confirmed night owl, filmmaker Alan Berliner has an obsessive mind that won't shut down for sleep, and which leaves him feeling "jet lagged in his own time zone." Digging deeply into the notion that true creativity can come only from chaos and exhaustion, the sleep-deprived documentarian decides to interview family and friends in an attempt to give us an intimate glimpse into the unsettling ripple effect one man's insomnia has on everyone around him. Incorporating hundreds of archival film clips, consultations with sleep specialists, an overnight stay at a sleep lab, conversations with family members, home movies and dream visualizations - all woven together by a strikingly dynamic sound design - Wide Awake is as informative as it is entertaining.

In a style all his own, Alan Berliner puts his struggle with insomnia under the microscope in this groundbreaking personal documentary. A cinematically innovative and visually provocative film, Wide Awake takes aim at a debilitating affliction that affects many of us at some point in our lives. According to the National Sleep Foundation, 70 million Americans suffer from some form of sleep problem, and 50 percent of the adults who responded to their recent poll claimed they don't sleep as well as they'd like to.

Wide Awake is not only a personal story; it also achieves a broader social commentary by taking subtle aim at the enticements and distractions of technology and a media-saturated environment that bombards us with news and information, 24/7. Berliner suggests that the common explanation "human error" should be reinterpreted to mean the mistakes of someone suffering from sleeplessness; at one point he even wonders how sleep deprivation might affect everything from world politics to the results of the World Series.

Wide Awake received its world premiere at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, and its international premiere at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival. An internationally acclaimed and award-winning filmmaker, Alan Berliner's previous films include The Sweetest Sound (2001), Nobody's Business (1996), Intimate Stranger (1991) and The Family Album (1986).