SYNOPSIS
Through the intertwining of animation and interviews, 'The Minds of Others' brings to life the moving experiences of six unique individuals, each diagnosed with a different mental health disorder.
Amongst the stories of confusion and hope, professionals battle to answer some of our long-standing questions about the very nature of mental illness. With all the debates and discussions that so often occur, are we focusing enough on the individuals themselves?
DIRECTORS STATEMENT
It was ten years ago now that I planned to take my life. I was lucky in that I could stop before I crossed the line of no return; I was also fortunate that I had people around me who would put up with far more than I could and should have ever asked for until I got myself back on my feet.
It was five years ago that I decided to embark on the creation of a documentary about mental illness. It wasn’t going to be the first documentary on the subject by any means, and when asked by a staff member at the BBC what made this different? I didn’t have an answer. I just knew in my heart that I had not yet seen a documentary that helped me truly feel seen, and I was determined to ‘make a documentary that I wish I could have seen back then’.
This documentary was intended to be filmed and completed within the year, ready to release in 2018, but somewhat understandably and somewhat ironically, time had to be taken out from post-production due to another fall in my mental health. Every day that passed was more stressful for me, as I knew we had funded pre-production and production of the film through crowdfunding. I could feel each day ticking by with the consistent chime of ‘you’ve failed’.
Between 2019 - 2020, I was at my lowest, partly due to the lockdowns that the world experienced but also due to a horrible situation I had found myself in throughout my personal life. In January of 2021, during our third and most harrowing lockdown, I felt the same as I did ten years prior. It was here that I decided to give it all one more go, and since then, I have become the healthiest I have ever been, both physically and mentally - with this has come the ability to finish this film finally.
I share all of this to emphasise further that this is not a film made to ‘spread awareness’, nor is it one due to trends - this is a film that I genuinely believe can help people feel that little bit more seen, no matter what side of the fence you sit on. It is a film that reminds us of the complexity that is going on in other minds whilst also reminding us that we are not crazy for feeling what we do. This is why the tagline of our film is ‘To understand others; we must first understand ourselves.’ We all have far more in common than we often remember - even with the ones that may deem themselves to be ‘crazy’.
I am excited to finally let go of the project to let it exist in the world’s zeitgeist. I am excited that it may help a small minority of people. I am humbled as I realise just how much of this film I needed for myself.