A film about the heroin epidemic, a subject that hits home for far too many families, screened Thursday night at the Cranford Theater.

"Shooting Heroin" is a film about residents of a small Pennsylvania town rising up to fight the opioid epidemic devastating their community.

Actor Garry Pastore, a Scotch Plains resident, plays a sheriff battling the scourge of heroin. The film is based on real life circumstances in the screenwriter Spencer Folmar's hometown.
 
"I moved from Philadelphia to get my children away from drugs and went to this small town where Spencer actually filmed,” says Executive Producer Pat Romano Jr. “I was standing in a bar telling people I moved there to get away from drugs, they all started laughing."

Thursday night's screening at the Cranford Theater benefited Prevention Links, a nonprofit working in the fight against addiction.

The movie will be screened at film festivals in the coming months in hopes of getting wider distribution.