Mia, an aggressive fifteen-year-old girl, lives on an Essex estate with her tarty mother, Joanne, and precocious little sister Tyler. She has been thrown out of school and is awaiting admission to a referrals unit and spends her days aimlessly. She begins an uneasy friendship with Joanne’s slick boyfriend, Connor, who encourages her one interest, dancing.
The Cine-Psych film making project was started in 2017 by Dr Nadeem Akhtar, a Psychiatrist, film-maker and Associate Professor at McMaster University. The aim of the project was to generate an educational community dialogue about Mental Health conditions by creating bespoke metaphorical, film depictions informed by those with lived experience. Despite filming and Cine-Psych events being placed on hold during the Covid-19 Pandemic, the team (comprised of Psychiatry residents and Medical students) remained dedicated to their vision.
Please join the Cine-Psych team, our community partners, the McMaster department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences and Department of Social Work as we present a multi-arts series exploring the realities of mental illness vs mental wellness. Our series will include feature films followed by expert panel discussion; bespoke poetry readings from local writers; and a first of its kind “stage and screen” event where a live action play will bridge two original Cine-Psych shorts.
