Mental disorders were told in the language of animation and dance

by time news

2023-06-09 16:19:30

The International Documentary Festival about neurodivergent people with mental disorders and developmental disabilities has ended in Moscow. He revealed the invisible, talking about how they live from day to day, what they think, what their loved ones feel.

The program included feature films, documentaries and animations, with a focus mainly on women. They are all strong, unpredictable, rebellious. But their inner world is very fragile and vulnerable. Sometimes a casual touch in a supermarket is enough to instantly change everything, to seize an alarming state, as happens in the film “Without a Prescription” by Juliana Maite from the exotic country of Puerto Rico.

After each screening, mental health professionals and film critics spoke to the audience. They had something to discuss. All the pictures taken in different countries over the past four years told about what a panic attack is, what its manifestations are, why some mental states lead to suicide and communication is impossible. Each film has its own rich festival fate, many awards. And they did not participate in some specialized film screenings of a narrow professional theme, but in the “Directors’ Fortnight” of the Cannes Film Festival, the Tribeca International Film Festival.

A frame from the feature film “Without a Prescription” provided by the press service of the festival







The animation program was excellent. With the language of animation, you can tell much brighter and more emotionally about things that are difficult to explain. The action of the 18-minute French film “Light Madness for a Lifetime” by Marine Laclotte, which received the highest cinematographic award of her country “Cesar”, takes place in a psychiatric clinic. This is a special world, closed and unpredictable, from which it is impossible to leave, where treatment will not give tangible results, will not bring recovery. It can only make patients’ lives a little better. They are here forever, this is their home, and this determines a lot. Types, characters of the inhabitants of the clinic, their phobias and obsessions are shown tenderly and touchingly. All these unfortunate people live apart in conditions of increased human density. The film uses real conversations heard in a similar institution. Mother Marine Laclotte worked in such a clinic, and it made a strong impression on her little daughter. According to her recollections, patients were let out for a walk, and they could be seen on the streets of a small French town.

The half-hour animated film “Reasonable Mind” by debutante Floor Adams was created in a co-production of the Netherlands and Belgium and tells about the acquaintance of an introverted young man Chris, who suffers from an autism spectrum disorder, with a red-haired girl who is passionate about studying chameleons. All day long the guy sits in his room, like a child, making a mini-squadron. His brother tries to bring him out of isolation, to introduce him to girls in a bar. But Chris doesn’t know how to communicate with them. Someone sitting in his head, a very pretty creature that looks like a worm, constantly tells you how to behave correctly. For example, in no case should you tell a girl about your planes, otherwise she will leave. Chris can hardly contain himself. Both – he and his “worm” – do not know what flirting is. No manuals give an understanding of what it is. And you have to react quickly. In the end, everything will go wrong, because the girl will be receptive, able to listen to Chris’ stories about airplanes. And when she sees his squadron, she will be completely delighted. A very funny and tender picture turned out, giving an idea of ​​​​how the world of a neurodivergent person works. It’s amazing that her debutante took off.

A frame from the animated film “Reasonable Mind” provided by the press service of the festival







In the Spanish documentary “Dance Madness”, directors Marta Espar and Mayol Virgili described the unusual undertaking of three young dancers who decided to experiment with three women with mental disorders. The girls tried to translate their feelings, panic attacks and depression into the language of dance. Gesture and plasticity are more expressive than words. All together, the heroines went to San Sebastian in order to know the anxieties in this beautiful city and free themselves from them. During the experiment, the body begins to speak, it is ready to dance madness.

In the Icelandic film Seeing the Invisible, Kristjan Kristiansson and Bjarni Ludviksdottir spoke about entire families with signs of autism. The mother of one of them, her brother, sons and granddaughters have a similar diagnosis. And many do not realize that they are autistic, but it is important to take the first step, go to the doctor, since many in the family live with this problem, and then understand what to do if the assumption is confirmed. The heroines of the film were 17 Icelandic women. It was important for the authors to show by their example how to live richly, knowing about the diagnosis, how to overcome despondency and loneliness. All this is effectively and highly artistically filmed. A strong impression is made by the figures of women against the backdrop of an endless winter landscape, the universal infinity of the outlying earth.

Swedish director Jennifer Malmqvist began filming her documentary Daughters a year after the mother of three underage girls voluntarily passed away. A young woman suffering from bipolar disorder struggled with her depression and made a terrible choice. Another ten years will pass, and Jennifer will return to her grown-up heroines to continue the conversation about how the tragic events radically changed their lives.

Olivia, a young and beautiful Puerto Rican woman, struggles unsuccessfully with obsessive-compulsive disorder in the game film “Without a Prescription”. After a short respite that lasted a year, a familiar voice returns to her, which dictates the terms, and she becomes dependent on him. While the girl’s mother and relatives are enjoying a family party, she rushes around the city in search of pills that can at least temporarily extinguish the exacerbation. Olivia doesn’t have insurance, which means you can’t count on prescription drugs. She doesn’t have the money to buy them. She will barely beg her mother for $50, although she is well aware of her daughter’s problems. A friend, whom Olivia met in a psychiatric clinic, helps buy the pills. The most surprising thing is that the girl’s boyfriend, who works in a pharmacy, will also be vulnerable. After the accident, he experiences a difficult mental state. There are many more such people around us than you might think. We just don’t think about it. Mariete Velez, who played the lead role and co-wrote the script, herself has the same diagnosis as her heroine. The screening of the film was accompanied by a discussion on the topic “How society treats neurodivergent people.” And it is indifferent and cruel. The diagnosis itself sounds like a sentence, becomes a stigma for such people. It is amazing that such a conversation took place at all, and films even from those countries that excluded Russia from their sphere of interest took part in the festival. Still, humanism always wins.

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