Albuquerque packed the house for the public premiere of “The Call,” a documentary about New Mexico firefighters and first responder mental health.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Albuquerque packed the house for the public premiere of “The Call,” a documentary about New Mexico firefighters and first responder mental health.
The screening took place at the South Valley Community Center.
Filmmakers shot the film in Albuquerque and spent weeks with current and retired firefighters in Rio Rancho and Bernalillo County. The documentary focuses on the mental health challenges first responders in New Mexico are facing.
“We shot the film here and we really connected with this community so it was important for us to bring the film back to the community and show it to our friends and everybody,” said Charles English, executive producer, cinematographer of “The Call.”
“I was really intrigued by the idea that first responders needed services that they didn’t have those services,” said English. “And realized how big of an issue this is how big the gaps are for the structures that support our these first responders everywhere, law enforcement, prison firefighters everybody they need these support strutures in place so that they can maintain not only their phsical health, but their mental health as well so that they can be there for us when we need them.”
The director said the film takes on a tough subject but aims to give audiences something positive.
“I really hope they take away a message of hope more than anything, you know it is a very heavy topic but there are some incredible people doing incredible work but they also need our support, they need the community support.” said Laura Boyd Owen, director of “The Call.”
“The Call” has already won awards at film festivals in Canada and France.
