Suggested Audiovisual Resources

From the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), Sales and Customer Services, D-10
PO Box 6100, Station Centre-Ville
Montreal, PQ H3C 3H5 www.nfb.ca
Available by calling toll-free: 1-800-267-7710 (most titles $39.95 each)
Fax: (514) 283-7564

A Gift for Kate (NFB, 28 min. 1986)
Kate is a recently discharged psychiatric patient who now lives in a rundown halfway house. The weekly visits from her 15-year0old son, Arthur, are bright spots in her difficult life. For Arthur, who has trouble dealing with his mother’s condition, the visits are difficult. Arthur’s embarrassment and confusion lead him to lie to his girlfriend about Kate, with some surprising results when the two women meet.

Conspiracy of Silence (NFB, 26 min. 1981)
A dramatic film about generational differences that almost split a family apart. Anna’s parents don’t trust her. Jack, her brother, committed suicide a year ago. Her parents disguised it as a car accident. Tension builds between Anna and her parents until she attempts suicide. The magnitude of their problems prompts a family reconciliation. Dramatic, realistic, fast-moving, this film sounds an alarm on the subject of teen suicide.

First Break (NFB, 51 min. 1997)
Three percent of Canadians will experience a psychotic episode at some point during their lives. This video explores the different outcomes of a first episode of mental illness on three young adults and their families. Shot over a year, the video dispels the myths and questions the stigma associated with mental illness, while providing a powerful portrait of coping.

The Myths of Mental Illness (NFB, 56 min. 1988)
Under mounting pressure at work and in his personal life, a successful journalist “burns out”. The Myths of Mental Illness tells the story of his breakdown and traces his battle to regain his life’s meaning. Interviews with prominent psychiatrists who hold opposing views of mental illness are intercut with the powerful drama.
This film raises questions about coping with stressful life and work situations, mental health and illness, psychiatry, drug therapy and psychotherapy, the healing power of human relationships, human freedom and dignity, technology and the invasion of privacy, and media integrity.

Remembering Tom (NFB, 24 min. 1999)
Tom was 18 when he killed himself, leaving his family to deal with the anguish of his death. We meet Tom’s parents, sister and brother two years later. They convey how they have to learned to live, not “get over” Tom’s suicide. Rachel, 17, describes how she coped with the “greatest pain anyone could imagine” and recounts overcoming her own suicidal thoughts in the months after brother died. The strength and resilience of Rachel and her family vividly demonstrate that, although we cannot always prevent such a tragedy, we can make choices about how to cope.

Shattered Dreams (NFB, 28 min. 1989)
Shattered Dreams is a powerful and emotional exploration of the experiences of a family forced to deal with the tragedy of schizophrenia in a loved one – not once, but twice. The martini family lived through the turmoil of losing their youngest son Ben to schizophrenia and eventually suicide, only to discover six years later that a second son, Liv, has developed the disease. Clem Martini, a third brother, narrates the film, sharing with us his family’s journey through a world of confusion, guilt, loss, and ultimately, hope.

Someone to Talk To (NFB, 27 min. 1996)
In over 6000 Canadian schools, peer helping programs have successfully trained kids to help each other overcome everything from nagging personal problems to full-blown crises. In the process, peer helpers learn about empathy and improve their own social skills. This eye-opening portrait follows a group of volunteers from two secondary schools.

The Sterilization of Leilani Muir (NFB, 47 min. 1996)
A single IQ test and misguided “science” irreparably changed the life of a 14-year-old Canadian girl. This powerful documentary follows Leilani Muir’s search for justice and explores how eugenics (improving heredity qualities of a race through the control of reproduction) became acceptable in the early 1900s.

Thin Dreams (NFB, 20 min. 1986)
A film made by young women participating in a training program sponsored by the Secretary of State’s International Youth Secretariat and Studio D of the NFB. The film is a look at how young women in secondary school feel about their bodies, and how their self-images are affected by North American society’s obsession with thinness.

OCD: The War Inside (NFB, 70 min. 2001)
They seem like ordinary people. They have no physical disabilities and appear as functional as the next person. But their lives have been shadowed by the crippling effects of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, a misunderstood anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts, nagging fears and ritualistic behaviour.
OCD: The War Inside documents the personal stories of several individuals who fight to survive a war inside their minds. Their stories reveal a deeper aspect to the disorder, which goes beyond the constant hand washing, door locking and other repetitive acts typically associated with OCD.

Working Like Crazy (NFB 54 min. 1999)
Working Like Crazy is a fresh look at the struggles and victories of some former mental health patients who work in businesses owned and run by other psychiatric survivors. Labelled "unemployable," they have given themselves a safe space among peers. A place where they can earn an income and rebuild their lives.
Working Like Crazy is about alternatives to conventional community mental health and economic development. It portrays work as a human process that rebuilds people's connections with each other.