Nothing Solid
A young Armenian-American filmmaker is nearing completion of a semi-autobiographical, dark medical comedy about her experience with Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome (CVS)—a rare brain-gut disorder that causes frequent, often intense bouts of vomiting lasting hours or even days. Nothing Solid will be the world’s first movie about the condition—“a vom-com,” as filmmaker Sharisse Zeroonian cleverly calls it.
According to the National Institutes of Health, about three in 100,000 children are diagnosed with CVS each year, but it’s becoming increasingly recognized in adults. Triggers can include stress, anxiety, migraine, menstruation and motion sickness. Zeroonian, 29, experienced short-lived bouts of digestive issues in childhood but was symptom-free for 13 years until April 2021, when weekly and often severe vomiting episodes began at age 25.
After two and a half years of medical testing—including a gastric emptying study and an upper endoscopy—Zeroonian was diagnosed with CVS during an emergency room visit in August of 2023, a month before her 28th birthday.
“This film is helping me reclaim much of what I lost to the disease,” Zeroonian says. She emphasizes that the movie isn’t about garnering sympathy, or to lionize herself, but rather, to “help [herself] and others no longer live in shame” and also to “finally give curious people an explanation about what [she’s] been through these past several years.”
“At my lowest weight, I was 16 pounds down from what I used to be, and kept getting questions about it,” Zeroonian recalls. “That was uncomfortable enough, but what made me even more uncomfortable was the fact that I was carrying around this dreadful secret. Once I went public with my diagnosis, my burden was lifted, and I found I felt much better being open about it.”
In addition to the film’s various medical and family scenes, there are quite a few funny moments, especially in scenes set at Nikki’s workplace—the Armenian church newsletter, which feature characters such as her best friend Tamar (Julie DeStefano), bullies Arsen and Esther (Logan Raposo and Angela Hurley), and a compassionate but no-nonsense Der Hayr (Rick DuMont).
“I don’t work at a church newsletter,” Zeroonian jokes, “but a lot of what Nikki deals with at work really does come from some of the unfortunate interactions I’ve had with peers in the Armenian community. All names have been changed to protect the guilty,” she explains.
The bread and butter of the movie, though, is Nikki’s relationship with her psychiatrist, Dr. Miller (Russ Gannon). The most common triggers for cyclic vomiting are stress and anxiety—as is the case for Nikki with all of the changes and conflicts happening in her life. Dr. Miller not only helps Nikki see the connection between her emotions and her physical symptoms, but challenges her to take the necessary steps to improve her situation.
There are pieces of Armenian culture woven throughout the movie, and even a few pieces of Armenian dialogue. But most importantly, Zeroonian says, there will be a couple of scenes that address, with sensitivity and compassion, the hot-button issue of “cultural” practices and love languages—particularly when it comes to parenting.
“A lot of us grew up idealizing the typical Western family system, which works for some but not others,” says Zeroonian. “A large part of this script came from my own conflict between figuring out how to be an adult by Western standards while trying to be a part of my family by Eastern standards… Of course, there are some behaviors that happen in families, which are unacceptable no matter what your background is—and the film will show plenty of those—but all the members of Nikki’s family end up understanding more about each other in the end.”
Starting in August, Nothing Solid will be released nationwide in select theaters, submitted to international festivals and made available on streaming. A portion of ticket sales from screenings will be donated to the Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome Association (CVSA).
To follow the movie’s production and release journey, visit @nothingsolidmovie on Instagram.
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