'Third Degree Burnout – A Survivor’s Guide' Sparks Global Momentum with UK Premiere, Festival Win, and Seattle Selection

With Greenpoint’s FF Best Documentary win, Seattle honors, and a UK premiere, the acclaimed film culminates its momentum at Sustain Film Festival on Aug 31

BOSTON, MA, UNITED STATES, August 21, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The acclaimed, award-winning hybrid-format feature documentary “Third Degree Burnout – A Survivor’s Guide” will make its United Kingdom premiere at the SUSTAIN Film Festival on Sunday, August 31, as part of the festival’s prestigious “Sunday Features” program - screening alongside Sir David Attenborough’s celebrated film, “OCEAN.”

Hot off the heels of winning Best Documentary at the Greenpoint Film Festival, the film will also reach U.S. audiences in a special geo-locked virtual screening at the Seattle Film Festival, where it has earned semi-finalist honors and is in the running for the Audience Choice Awards during its August 23 - September 7 run.

From New York to London. The Story Expands:

“Third Degree Burnout - A Survivor’s Guide” will screen at 3:00 PM U.K. time at The Guildford Institute’s “Assembly Room” in Guildford. Complimentary tickets are available through the festival website: “Sunday Day Pass for August 31 – Guildford”

“To share a program with Sir David Attenborough is a tremendous honor,” says Nivi Jaswal-Wirtjes, the film’s Director and Executive Producer. “This moment is a testament to the urgency of connecting personal healing with planetary repair—and my hope is that these milestones, from our upcoming Sustain Film Festival premiere to our Best Documentary win at Greenpoint and semi-finalist honors at Seattle, signal that our message is beginning to resonate far and wide.”

Nivi’s sentiments are echoed by John Morales, one of the top hurricane specialists in the United States, a former NBC6-TV Miami chief meteorologist, atmospheric scientist, and Honorary Fellow of the American Meteorological Society. Narrating the film, John uncovers how structural burnout is driven by the same extractive systems fueling the climate crisis, food system breakdown, and rising public health disparities.

Tackling the Serious with a Spark of Humor:

Through a dynamic blend of 26 expert interviews and 15 dramatized skits, “Third Degree Burnout – A Survivor’s Guide” invites audiences into the parallel crises of personal exhaustion and planetary collapse. Two fictional characters - portrayed by Anna Jobarteh, a London-based actress (Netflix’s “In from the Cold,” “Remember Me”), and Richard Lund, an award-winning Australian actor based in the U.K (Prime Video, Amazon, MGM Studios, Netflix) - navigate cultural, emotional, and historical landscapes of burnout, offering practical solutions for resilience.

As Lund explains, “This film shines a light on the topics we, as a society, ignore or disregard. We, like the climate we live in, can only be pushed so far before we start to see the resounding effects. No other film draws a comparison between personal and climate burnout, and the question needs to be asked: why are we not talking about it more?”

Film Festival Audience Praise:

Festival audiences have praised the film’s sensitive use of levity in addressing urgent, often overwhelming topics such as burnout and climate anxiety, noting that moments of humor create space for reflection and hope. The film’s unique balance of hard-hitting insight and uplifting storytelling not only entertains but empowers audiences with tangible ways to begin reversing both personal and planetary burnout.

Genevieve Shi, award-winning actress, director, and Greenpoint Film Festival juror, says about the film’s recent Best Documentary Feature win: “ ‘Third Degree Burnout – A Survivor’s Guide’ is genre-defying. The film is an exquisite blend of expertise, humor, fictional storytelling, animation, and deep human narratives. Its beauty lies in the meticulous creative detail, elevating urgent topics like burnout, mental health, and the climate crisis into an unforgettable cinematic experience.”

The GAIA Study - Research Powering a Global Sustainability Dialogue:

Grounded in The GAIA Study, the largest U.S.-based nonprofit study on burnout, nutrition, and lifestyle during the COVID-19 pandemic, “Third Degree Burnout – A Survivor’s Guide” uses evidence on how food systems, daily habits, and mental resilience shape human health to frame a broader conversation about systemic repair. Conducted by the JIVINITI Research and Advocacy Program at The Virsa Foundation Inc., in partnership with Ipsos Global Affairs, the study anchors the film’s call for change.

Dr. Shireen Kassam, founder of Plant-Based Health Professionals UK, consultant hematologist at King’s College Hospital, and a leading Lifestyle Medicine expert in the UK, is one of the film’s featured experts. “This film powerfully challenges the normalization of burnout,” says Dr. Kassam. “It makes an urgent and evidence-based case for systemic solutions rooted in nutrition, equity, and compassion.”

This blend of rigorous research and solutions-focused storytelling has helped the film secure a place at the SUSTAIN Film Festival, co-sponsored by the Institute for Sustainability at the University of Surrey - bringing its message to an audience where health, equity, and environmental stewardship converge.

Built on Partnerships, Powered by Purpose:

Jennifer Rapp, Chief Marketing Officer at Superside, notes: “We are proud to have partnered on the production of ‘Third Degree Burnout’, a film that blends creativity, compassion and bold storytelling to spark meaningful dialogue on one of the most urgent challenges of our time.”

More Praise from Adam Gorry, Co-Director of Sustain Film Festival:

"Third Degree Burnout” strikes a delicate balance between humor and hardship, driving conversation about the importance of acknowledging deep-rooted systemic problems that affect us all - whether we feel them yet or not. A revelatory inclusion for Sustain Film Festival, the film unpicks the tightly woven fabric of today's globalized and normalized systems of living!” says Adam Gorry, Co-Director of Sustain Film Festival.

Audience Choice Awards / Seattle Film Festival Online Screening, August 23, 2025, through September 7, 2025:

Audiences who are curious to discover the surprising link between your stress and the planet’s crisis, can view the semi-finalist film online between August 23, 2025, through September 7, 2025, at 11:00 am ET, through the EOFlix link here.

Please be sure to vote!

Watch the trailer below.
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Screening Details - UK
Film: Third Degree Burnout – A Survivor’s Guide
Festival: Sustain Film Festival – U.K. Premiere
Date: Sunday, August 31, 2025
Time: 3:00 PM BST
Venue: The Guildford Institute’s “Assembly Room” in Guildford