OCD & ME

52-minute documentary film

An intriguing insight into a condition that many of us share to some degree - Irish Independent.

An incredibly powerful documentary – The Saturday Night Show.

Most people have heard of OCD but what exactly is obsessive compulsive disorder? It affects between 2-3% of the population and presents itself in many unusual guises. People are often surprised to learn that OCD goes far beyond the common perception of excessive hand washing or the repetitive checking of light switches.
OCD is an extreme anxiety-related condition where a person experiences frequent, intrusive, and unwelcome obsessive thoughts, often followed by repetitive compulsions, impulses, or urges.
To get an understanding of this disturbing mental illness we spend time with some people who have agreed to come forward and talk about their OCD. We also feature experts in the field and an anxiety support groups in the west of Ireland.
Jacob is a 25-year-old Dublin artist whose daily existence is dominated by his battle with severe contamination OCD where he views himself as ‘OCD clean’ and most of the world as ‘OCD dirty’. Jacob gets frustrated with the lack of awareness of this disorder and throw away phrases like ‘a little bit OCD’ which make a joke of this mental illness. His mother, Mella, also lives with her own form of OCD. Mella gives us a unique perspective, not only as a parent of a son who is unable to touch her, but also as someone who has lived with her own OCD since youth.
Eileen, in her 60’s, lives in Sligo town and is part of a local anxiety support group. She has lived with her OCD for the last 50 years and says it has destroyed her life. She hopes sharing her story might stop others from going through the same hell. Her OCD has come in many forms, hand washing, praying, folding clothes etc. If she does certain rituals, she believes it will prevent terrible things from happening to people in her family. We spend time at home with Eileen and get exclusive access to the weekly support group where Eileen and others talk openly about this sometimes-embarrassing disorder.
Simon is a highly functional 32-year-old Dubliner who works for a prominent Dublin radio station. He has lived with a variety of forms of OCD and has started talking openly about the condition in recent months. Simon brings us to his old school, back to a street where he was convinced, he had caused a road accident and to St Patrick’s Hospital where his life was transformed.
OCD is the third most common concern reported to St Patrick’s mental-health support services in Ireland and The World Health Organisation lists it as one of the 10 most debilitating illnesses on the planet. OCD and Me gives us a greater understanding of this secretive and often misunderstood condition.

Producer/Director: Adrian McCarthy
Editor: Brenda Morrissey
DoP: Eleanor Bowman
Ass Producer: Zlata Filipovic
Exec Producer RTÉ: Niamh O’Connor
Exec Producer: Martha O’Neill
Sound: Sue Downey

A Wildfire Films Production for RTÉ.

Michelle Collins

Star of stage and screen Michelle Collins is the Patron of SHOUT LONDON. In addition to her international acting, producing and writing career, Michelle is passionate about her charity work. She is the Ambassador for Dementia for Ashford Place, an Ambassador for animal charity All Dogs Matter, as well as supporting many other charities including the Barnardo's "fashion for all" campaign, to mention a few.

Maria Mcateer

Maria is half Irish, half Trinidadian. She trained as an RGN/SRN/Midwife before studying drama at The Poor School. As an actor her tv credits include: Byker Grove, Finney, Harry, The Bill, Call Red, nearly always returning to tv hospitals to play nurses! Theatre credits include: Theatre Centre, Krazy Kat, Damn Cheek, Tara Arts, Talawa, Singapore Rep, Ridiculusmus, Brighton Beam, Explore The Arch & other eclectic theatre companies. Maria won National Westminster Playwright Awards for first two plays “Cat-food” and “Little Secrets” both produced and performed at Soho Theatre. She’s had several plays produced and performed since then including: “The Bees Mouth,” “My Friend Lester,” “One Last Look,” and most recently “The Guinness Girl.” "The Guinness Girl" play was a huge success and is soon to be made into a major feature film
Maria’s late father Al Timothy was a well known jazz musician and composer who penned the hit “Kiss Me Honey Honey Kiss Me.” Inspired by her father Maria studied jazz vocal at Chichester College and is a regular vocalist on the jazz circuit.
Other Awards: All England, All Ireland and World Champion Irish Dancer.

I AM GEN Z

Investigated through expert interviews and the web lens of Generation Z, the feature documentary film explores how the explosion of the digital revolution is impacting our society, our brains and mental health, how the forces driving it are working against humanity and have put us on a dangerous trajectory that has huge ramifications for this first generation growing up with mobile digital technology. The film has enjoyed worldwide success at international film festivals.

Janet Reeve

Janet Reeve is delighted to be part of the first SHOUT festival with a reading of the title poem from her collection – Make it okay. Her quirky verse charts the joy, depression, pain, frivolity, greed, confusion and passion of a heart determined to remain open to love. In 2015, Janet’s novel The Shark Party, an artworld thriller, was called ‘A brave, enthralling first book’ for highlighting intimate partner violence before #MeToo was born. Find @janetreevewarrior on IG and glimpse the nature images that fire her imagination.

What's Going On In Your Head? #BeTheLight

A stigma-busting hard-hitting audio visual experience from What’s Going On In Your Head? directed and edited by Liz Smith. Featuring performances from artists including Shocka, SK Shlomo, Hyphen and The Castell Brothers. Find out how you can #BeTheLight to help someone out from the dark.

Jon Salmon

Jon Salmon is an award-winning video executive producer, a digital pioneer and co-founder of branded entertainment agency Byte Entertainment.
Jon lost his father to suicide as a teenager. After starting his first job Jon was sectioned and admitted to hospital with stress and depression. Luckily, Jon was able to get the right help and returned to work a year later.
However, Jon decided not to tell anyone about his illness for nearly 20 years due to the stigma and affect it would have on his career and friendships.
It was sadly after the suicide of a close friend due to postnatal depression in 2016 that Jon decided he had to speak out.
Jon couldn’t have picked a more public platform to speak out when he spoke alongside the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry as part of the Heads Together mental health campaign.
Jon has since gone on to be one of the directors of the Speakers Collective, challenging stigma and facilitating important conversations. Co-produce What’s Going On In Your Head exploring the secret inner workings of the mind through performance art and discussion. A trustee for Let’s Talk About Loss a charity for young people who have been bereaved, Co-Chair Time to Change Waltham Forest and a mentor for The House of St Barnabas Soho, employment academy to break the cycle of homelessness.
In 2022, Jon will be attempting several running challenges building up to the New York Marathon raising awareness, funding, and research into mental health support.
Jon lives in London, a proud Dad and speaks openly about mental health in the hope it will help others and save lives.
Mental Health Initiatives
www.whatsgoingoninyourhead.org - Co-founder, live performance and discussion
www.jonandjohn.run - Running for Mental Health and New York Marathon 2022
www.speakerscollective.org – Co-CEO, Lived experience community and social enterprise
www.letstalkaboutloss.org - Trustee, Supporting 18-35 year olds who have been bereaved
www.wf-timetochange.co.uk Co-Chair & Champion Time to Change Waltham Forest
www.hosb.org.uk/mentoring - Mentor, The House of St Barnabas Homeless Employment Academy
www.talkitoutmusic.com Exec Producer, mental health music project bringing people together

Website Social Media Accounts
www.linkedin.com/in/jcsalmon
www.twitter.com/jonsalmon
www.instagram.com/j0nsalmon
www.jon-salmon.com
www.metro.co.uk/author/jon-salmon-for-metro-co-uk

Byte Entertainment
www.byteentertainment.com

Schizophrenia - The Voices in My Head

SCHIZOPHRENIA, THE VOICES IN MY HEAD, was nominated for Best Single Documentary award in the Celtic Media Festival, Best Director & Best Factual Documentary in the IFTAs (Irish Film and Television Awards) and best documentary of the year by The Irish Times.

The film tells the stories of six young people living with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, all determined to get on with life and fight against the huge stigma associated with it. The interviewees share their experience of hearing voices, of paranoia and delusions and of living with the stigma of a condition that is still largely misunderstood by most of the population.

“I knew very little about the condition when we started out, it’s a complex subject matter. I feel we’ve done the contributors justice and hope this documentary will open people’s eyes to the fact that there are different types of schizophrenia, not everyone with a diagnosis will experience the same symptoms, challenges or successes as our contributors but hopefully their experiences will help shed some light on a condition that still carries huge stigma. We’ve come a long way in how we deal with and speak about mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, schizophrenia sometimes feels like the last frontier and these six contributors have shown extraordinary bravery in agreeing to take part.” Kim Bartley, Director.

Directed by Kim Bartley, Produced by Aoife Kavanagh, Edited by Paul Mullen

Adrian McCarthy

Adrian McCarthy is the owner of Curious Dog Films which was established in late 2019. He has been making documentaries for over twenty years and was previously the co-owner of Wildfire Films. A multi-award winning producer/director, he has made over fifty hours of television and feature docs for national and international broadcasters and funders like RTE, Screen Ireland, BAI, TG4, Channel 4, BBC Four, Virgin Media, Setanta, ARTE Germany, YLE Finland, SBS Australia and The History Channel.

Adrian’s work covers a broad range of subjects across the arts, sport, politics, music, comedy, social issues, mental health and the ups and downs of life.

Some of his documentaries include: the IFTA winning ‘ROUGH RIDER’ film, on controversial journalist and former pro-cyclist, Paul Kimmage. It was described as ‘Remarkable. A superb film, a sad story of unrequited love‘ by The Sunday Independent and ‘Excellently paced, well-crafted and beautifully filmed‘ by the Irish Times. The IFTA nominated, ‘PORTRAIT OF A GALLERY’ was filmed over three years inside the walls of National Gallery of Ireland. The Irish Times described it as ‘a brilliant piece of art criticism. In this documentary, the National Gallery gets a depiction worthy of its renovation‘. Adrian produced the highly acclaimed ‘ANTHONY FOLEY – MUNSTERMAN’ on the story of the sudden death of the Munster rugby coach; ‘A moving and uplifting documentary. A poignant tribute’ – Sunday Times. His IFTA winning ‘HIDDEN IMPACT – Rugby and Concussion’ was described as ‘an excellent documentary making for deeply unsettling yet essential viewing‘ by The Irish Times. After his documentary ‘GRAHAM LINEHAN – FUNNY BUSINESS‘, The Irish Times said ‘A cracking profile. It was as assured an hour of television as you’re likely to see all year. Although it’s no surprise given it was the work of Adrian McCarthy. And ‘SMALL FAR AWAY – THE WORLD OF FATHER TED‘ for Channel 4, was nominated for an IFTA, given five stars and described as ‘Lovely Stuff’ by Time Out, London.

Sanctioned

It's not just Harvey Weinstein. Approximately 85,000 women and 12,000 men are raped in England and Wales every year, and there are far more that go unreported.

The UK's society has placed a taboo on people speaking out about rape and its aftermath, by silencing/blaming victims and excusing the offender.

SANCTIONED follows Jessica Tasmin's journey in regaining her body through pagan rituals, life modelling and the way she chose to present herself, after being raped.

This film explores her body and aesthetic image as she narrates, commenting on the mental aftermath of sexual trauma and how Jess feels that our society can sometimes sympathise with the perpetrator.

Trigger waring: sexual trauma & nudity

A Wake

After their Mother's death, two grieving sisters argue about what to do with their families pub.

Nominated for Best under 25s at Underwire 2022

Trigger warning: deals with alcohol addiction, grief & suicide

The Guinness Girl

Two scenes from "The Guinness Girl", A play written by Maria McAteer. The Guinness Girl is the true story of a young girl of Irish and Caribbean heritage growing up In Newcastle in the 70's. The play follows her journey, how she Irish danced though the prejudice around her and eventually found herself. Performed by Maria McAteer, Karen Spicer and accompanied by Jimmy Page.

Dominique Murphy - de Neef

Dominique has a Master of Arts with Merit in Documentary Practice from the University of Creative Arts, Farnham. She won the Personal Narrative Award at the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival for her emotionally challenging documentary SANCTIONED. She is the Creative Director of Silver Mountain Productions, Head of Marketing for female empowering social enterprise, Wise Women, as well as being the content creator, resident film maker and photographer for a number or organisations in the UK. She is also the drum & bass DJ under her stage name Pinks.

Emma J. Gilbertson

Emma J. Gilbertson is a writer/director from Liverpool working in film, television and music videos. They are represented by the Independent Talent Group and are currently developing several original feature ideas. They are primarily interested in creating stories about the working-class experience, female identity and queerness. Their films also feature dance, music and spoken word. Growing up in Liverpool has given them a unique sense of humour and perspective and Emma currently resides above a pub with a cat named Roxy.

Kim Halliday

Kim is an award winning media composer & musician working in London. His music is an evolving and revolving mixture of trip hop, reggae and film noir, designed to comfort and disturb in equal measure. His scores have encompassed horror, comedy, drama, musicals and child birth, while his albums have been described as “Sonic Youth meets Bernard Herrmann” and “Face-Bashing All-Out Guitar Assault”.

On I Am Gen Z, Kim's role involved writing the score, writing some songs, and curating music from emerging artists for the soundtrack. His latest releases are geo-located audio tours for Bristol and Bath, which Kim has written, scored and directed. His production company Unpleasantville is now developing further immersive mixed reality events and a 360º installation piece.

www.kimhalliday.com
www.unpleasantville.com
Instagram:
@kimhallidaymusic
@unpleasantvilleuk