Lifted (2011 film)

Lifted
Directed by	Lexi Alexander
Produced by	Deborah Del Prete
Written by	Lexi Alexander
Starring	Uriah Shelton Dash Mihok Nicki Aycox
Music by	Kurt Farquhar
Cinematography	David Brower
Edited by	Gregory Nussbaum
Production company	Listed Picture
Release date	August 14, 2010 (Feel Good Film Festival) August 9, 2011 (DVD)
Running time	108 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Lifted is a film directed by Lexi Alexander. It premiered at the Feel Good Film Festival on August 14, 2010, and was released straight-to-DVD in 2011.

Henry Matthews (Uriah Shelton) lives in a small town in Alabama with his parents, William (Dash Mihok) and Lisa (Nicki Aycox). His father is a garage mechanic, but is also in the Reserves, while his mother is unemployed, but goes to group-therapy sessions for a drug addiction that she had dropped one year and four months ago. Henry is a middle-schooler, and deals with bullies after school, forcing him to eventually take refuge in the Baptist Church where Henry meets Pastor John (Ruben Studdard). Pastor John takes a liking to Henry when they begin to play worship music on the church's piano, and discovers Henry is a very talented singer. Pastor John gives Henry a flyer for the Alabama Teen Star Quest, a singing competition in Birmingham.

William's Reserve Unit is activated and deployed to Afghanistan. While William is gone, Henry sends him songs to listen to, and to show off to his Marine buddies. While William is gone, Henry's mom cannot afford the mortgage on the house, and they move into Lisa's dad's trailer, without telling William. Lisa's dad hates the music Henry listens to and didn't agree with her marrying William. Henry skips school, but Lisa thinks he is gone. She begins to bike to her therapy session, but turns around. She walks to the neighbors and gets high, breaking her promise to William that she'd stay sober. Henry watches his mom get high out of the window, and unplugs his headphones from his radio. Lisa's dad returns and hits Henry for listening to his music and skipping school. He decides to leave and attend the competition. He tells his mom "bye," but she is too high to understand. Henry hitchhikes to Birmingham to enter the singing competition. His dad comes home while he's gone, and finds the house empty, and his wife high, then runs to Birmingham where he finds Henry and performs with him in the competition.