New film 'Swim Tuff: How I Swam My Way Out Of The Bottle' chronicles an unusual path to sobriety

The road to recovery from addiction is often described as a marathon rather than a sprint. Educator, long-distance swimmer and filmmaker Ben Tuff has taken that metaphor literally and figuratively as he embarked on recovery from alcoholism using long-distance swimming to center himself and add meaning to life.

A new film directed by Matt Corliss chronicles Ben Tuff’s path to sobriety and a 24-mile swim that Tuff made from Providence to Jamestown in 2022. The title of the documentary is “Swim Tuff: How I Swam My Way Out Of The Bottle.” In this interview, “City Lights” host Lois Reitzes speaks with the long-distance swimmer and filmmaker Ben Tuff to talk more about the documentary.

“When I immersed myself in the water, it was a place that I could disappear. Once I found swimming, it was like everything made sense,” Tuff said.