Native New Yorker, Craig Blair earned his degree at the State University of New York at Albany. An accomplished and passionate filmmaker, Craig has been working in the industry for over 15 years, Producing and or 1st ADing a variety of projects both scripted and unscripted. He prides himself on creating high quality content.
Producing credits include sports docuseries for LeBron James’ Uninterrupted/SpringHill Company: Top Class: The Life & Times of the Sierra Canyon Trailblazers, featuring Bronny James, 40 Days: Canelo vs. Kovalev, Heart of Surprise featuring LeBron & Trae Young, feature films Devil’s Fruit (Heath Freeman), Consulting Producer: Lionsgate’s Mid-Century (Steven Lang, Bruce Dern), award-winning short horror films: Rancour (Travis Jefferey) filmed in Australia and Nagual: The Sin Eater (Ronnie Gene Blevins) award-winning TV pilots: Shoot Me Nicely (Linda Hamilton) and Distemper (Abigail Hawk) and the upcoming Hit Man (Richard Kind, Karen Allen).
1st Assistant Director credits include: feature films: Lost & Found In Cleveland (Martin Sheen, Jon Lovitz), Bolivar (Robert Pine), Full Dress (Christopher Abbott), Everything Beautiful is Far Away (Julia Garner), Stoker Hills (Tony Todd), Duplas Brothers presents: Rainbow Time (Melanie Lynskey), After The Storm (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) Executive Produced by David Oyelowo and TV series Swedish Dicks (Peter Stormare, Keanu Reeves).
PRODUCER’S STATEMENT
Trauma can produce a lifetime of debilitating effects on those that have experienced it first hand, but it can also have lasting negative effects and life consequences on the loved ones of the afflicted.
Leon’s struggles with guilt, depression and alcohol abuse are a result of his mental illness caused by traumatic combat experience as a young man while serving in the US Marine Corps in Afghanistan 2002. After losing many of his team under his command in an ambush, Leon returns home a broken man. Tearing apart his family, all of Leon’s close relationships have been negatively impacted by his mental illness throughout his adult life.
Our story explores this over a span of 3 time periods in Leon’s life, spanning three generations of his family, beginning before his deployment through his combat experience, culminating in his path to healing in his elder years, circa 2044 with the practice of an innovative and unconventional therapy which utilizes psychedelic drugs in a controlled environment.
Psychedelics have long been studied for their medicinal properties and benefits in treating mental illness, such as those caused by trauma. Throughout the 1950’s and 60’s over 1,000 scientific papers were written about psychedelic drugs such as LSD, psilocybin and mescaline, new to Western medicines at the time, that offered an unprecedented window into brain function and revolutionary potential in mental health care, but in 1970’s they were legally classified a Schedule I of the new federal Controlled Substances Act, the category for substances with no accepted medical use. Until only recently, have some of these drugs been decriminalized for medical use, the benefits of which are undeniable.
Viztor is an exciting character driven, futuristic sci/fi story about the experiences, interpersonal relationships and spiritual journey of our hero, a brave US combat veteran that put his life on the line for his country and the effects and consequences his PTSD triggered mental illness bring to a military family, while also advocating and exploring emerging treatments, the healing potential of which have been banned for far too long. Our goal in bringing Leon’s tale to life is to entertain, while also shining a light on the imperative of constantly improving and honoring our US military servicemen and women for their sacrifice.