Women on the verge: The Reel Recovery Festival explores addiction–and the path to help

Does this woman look like she has an alcohol problem? What does an alcoholic look like, anyway? Director Lori Butterfield challenges viewers of her new film,

Lipstick and Liquor,

to ask those questions. Learning about the addiction story of the woman pictured, Julie Kroll, who seemingly “had it all,” inspired Butterfield to ask them herself. Her documentary about Kroll and other suburban women battling alcoholism is screening this week at the

Reel Recovery Film Festival in Santa Monica alongside a slate of other movies about the struggles with and victories over addiction.

Kroll literally vanished after a minor car accident following a drinking binge. You don’t have to be a friend of Bill W. yourself to know that the pain of addiction surrounds us, even when the result isn’t as extreme as Kroll’s.

Here’s our talk with Butterfield. And you can see the entire Reel Recovery slate of films to be screened here.