Belmont alumna Erica Scoggins has released an award-winning, narrative film based on her experience with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. The film, “The Sacred Disease,” has screened across the US and Europe, garnering awards and recognition from long-standing festivals. It was recently screened at the 40th Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival in France, the largest festival in the world dedicated to the short form.
“The Sacred Disease” was shot on location in Chattanooga, Charleston and Cleveland, Tennessee and features a cast and crew from the Southeast, LA and Germany. It features a bereaved epileptic who ditches her pills and follows a mysterious women to the outskirts of her town where she slips back into the fearsome yet ecstatic throes of the seizure.
In addition to Scoggins, two other Belmont alumnae were involved in the production including Kyla Ledes, main actress and a 2012 theatre performance grad and Becky Covington, costume designer and 2011 design communications grad.
Scoggins began experiencing seizures while she was in school at Belmont, leading her to gear her curriculum towards preparing for a career in filmmaking. She graduated from Belmont with a BFA in Studio Art and a BA in English in 2012.
For more information on the film and Scoggins’ upcoming projects, click here. To watch the film, click here.