mentalideas

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Transference Translated Into Norwegian Ahead of Oslo Screening! Transference: A Bipolar Love Story has been translated into Norwegian ahead of the film's upcoming screening in Oslo!

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'Flim' Screens in London & Launches on Apple TV!

A special screening of our ambassador Raffaello Degruttola’s BIFA-nominated comedy film FLIM The Movie plus Q&A with director and cast will be held in London Feb 3! For details, click HERE! A rebooted version of Flim was released on Apple TV in Jan 2020!

https://tv.apple.com/gb/movie/flim-the-movie/

https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/flim-the-movie/

https://controventofilms.com/flim

Catch Raff…

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Mental Ideas Collaborates with Contro Vento Films on 'Intuition'

Mental Ideas Collaborates with Contro Vento Films on ‘Intuition’

Mental Ideas is collaborating with Contro Vento Films on director Raffaello Degruttola’s latest short film Intuition, a journey through paranoia. The short was inspired by Transference: A Bipolar Love Story, which Mental Ideas co-produced with Contro Vento Films in 2019. The collaborations have gathered momentum in 2020 with Intuition already in post-production. Keep checking this mental space…

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Catch Ambassador Dan in A Trip To Jamaica on Netflix!

Catch Ambassador Dan in A Trip To Jamaica on Netflix!

Our incredible ambassador Dan Davies is currently starring in Nollywood box office smash A Trip To Jamaica on Netflix in Hong Kong! Dan won Best Supporting Actor (Comedy) from the Golden Movie Awards in Nigeria for his role as Michael Rice. Don’t miss it!!!

Dan knocks it out of the park with his hilarious and moving contributions to the Mental Ideas Podcast, where he discusses the impact of life…

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Private: Too Much by Laura Konowal

Private: Too Much by Laura Konowal

Mental Ideas is excited to welcome artist, poet, musician and muse Laura Konowal as the platform’s Head of Mental Marketing! Here, she writes about her ongoing struggles with anxiety and bipolar disorder in her own lyrical style…

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The inaugural NIFA Awards (National Independent Film Association, USA) were hosted by Dan Davies at the Film Forte in Wisconsin this weekend, where recipients included Sean Connery (Lifetime Achievement) and Michael Blake (Legend Award). Among the nominations was Contro Vento Films‘ short Transference, which inspired the feature Transference: A Bipolar Love Story and 6 Short Love Stories.

Directed by Raffaello Degruttola and starring Param Vibe Mirpuri, the experimental short has scored a hat-trick of recent festival nominations. It was announced a semi-finalist at the Best Short Film Fest in Canada last week and has since been shortlisted by the 2019 Goa International Film Festival. The festival takes place in November!

NIFA then hoodwinked our creative director Sadie Kaye into believing she was experiencing a psychotic delusion of grandeur by awarding her International Broadcaster of the Year. She voluntarily committed herself to her nearest psychiatric hospital and is being kept there for a month awaiting further tests. Thanks NIFA! 

A Hat-Trick of Awards Nominations for Contro Vento & Mental Ideas! The inaugural NIFA Awards (National Independent Film Association, USA) were hosted by Dan Davies at the…

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In honor of #worldmentalhealthday day I wanted to share my completed illustrative series of paintings that represent some of my symptoms of #borderlinepersonalitydisorder.

I have uploaded the writing components to each individual illustration on my website. You can access that HERE!

#mentalhealthart #bpd #inkart #artsaveslives #arttherapy #mentalhealthawareness

Jade Bryant Inktober Art Collection In honor of #worldmentalhealthday day I wanted to share my completed illustrative series of paintings that represent some of my symptoms of…

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I created this piece to signify how technology creates information overload and thus placed the hand drawn artwork using the laptop as a frame for the piece. Information overload can burden us with so many psychological impacts, it is truly hard to focus. Knowing that our mind is simply a screen projecting an unhealthy amount of clutter, we become mechanical beings. To know that it is simply a screen allows us to detach from this wormhole and live in real time as human beings. We created technology and technology created us.

INSPIRATION & DRIVE

Param is drawn towards mental health as a driving force for most of his creative work. His whole reason for being an artist is to heal others. Fusing his talents in innovative ways to spread mental health awareness and spark an idea helps audiences to recover, to feel and to become more present.

Sometimes knowing a problem exists, whether mental or physical, is not enough. However, understanding the problem through the lens of performance, can create a change within the individual emotionally. That emotion is the source to touching the human heart and healing the mind. That emotion is what I want to give in all my work.

Param Vibe Mirpuri is a fusion artist, Mental Ideas ambassador and resident artist. Raised in Mumbai, India, he now lives in London. 

RELATED:

https://mentalideas.org/2019/10/07/param-mirpuri-fuses-poetry-dance-and-art-to-spread-good-vibes-about-mental-health/

Information Overload – Param Vibe Mirpuri I created this piece to signify how technology creates information overload and thus placed the hand drawn artwork using the laptop as a frame for the piece.

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Mental Artists Charlotte Farhan, Jade Bryant and Shawn Coss have created their own Inktober prompts for themselves and anybody else who wants to use them. Every day we’ll be adding more ExperiMENTAL Inktober Art to this project and we want YOU to get involved! Send us your art via email or tag #mentalideas #inktober @mentalideas!

To use Charlotte’s prompts (above), hashtag #⃣ #charlottefarhanart! Or you can download the Official Inktober 2019 prompts HERE!

Inktober 2019 Mental Artists Charlotte Farhan, Jade Bryant and Shawn Coss have created their own Inktober prompts for themselves and anybody else who wants to use them.

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Meet our newest recruit and Resident Artist Param Vibe Mirpuri!

Param Vibe is a dancer, writer, visual artist and spoken word poet. He fuses poetry, dance, character acting and abstract art to express emotions that are hard to voice and spread positive messages about mental health. A one-man juggernaut of creative energy, Param epitomizes the pioneering spirit of Mental Ideas. We tracked him down on Instagram to see if he’d be interested in representing our platform as an ambassador and resident artist. Luckily for us, he was. (Phew!)

Born in London, Param spent most of his life in Mumbai, India. He returned to London two years ago, where he met filmmaker and fellow Mental Ideas ambassador Raffaello DeGruttola. Raff immediately spotted his potential and created a short film, A Bipolar Love Story, based around Param’s work. The short was recently announced a semi-finalist at the 2019 Best Short Film Fest in Ontario, Canada. 

    With an award-winning film under his belt and his dance career in London taking off, Param suffered a frustrating setback when a knee injury severely impeded his mobility for 8 months. But instead of wallowing in self-pity, Param continued to actively (as actively as he could with a shattered knee) pursue his career and invented a brilliant chair dance! 

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His knee injury now fully healed, Param’s been making the most of his return to mobility. He’s currently developing a one-man show that fuses his myriad talents and passions for spoken word poetry, acting, dance and abstract art by bringing still drawings to life. 

  Param has been dancing for over a decade. He trained under the tutelage of Ashley Lobo at the Danceworx Company, Mumbai. He performed in competitions and commercials with big name brands in India, including FILA & Puma. As a member of the Roundhouse Street Circus Collective in London, he performed at events as part of a crew, combining circus with street dance, before focussing on fusing other art forms and breaking out as a solo artist. 

  He’s performed at events hosted by Artists4Artists and the Rawheed Collective, performed for the 2Faced Dance Company, and recently for Social Step Up at Wembley. In 2018 he performed ‘BollyHop’; his own innovation; fusing hiphop and Bollywood culture in a special performance for London Mayor Sadiq Khan at The Diwali in Trafalgar Square.

  Param is drawn towards mental health as a driving force for his creativity. Understanding mental illness through the lens of a performance allows audience members to feel and become more ‘present’. That instant connection to raw emotion is the power source for touching the human heart and healing the mind. Mental health recovery is all about creating the right vibe for that change to take place.

  Mental Ideas is excited to be collaborating with Param across many creative art forms, including a special performance of his infamous ‘chair dance’ at Great Ormond Street Hospital, as a poet/actor/dancer on our short film strand 6 Short Love Stories, and as a guest presenter on our Mental Ideas Podcast. Below are some clips displaying Param’s innovative ‘Impromptu’ dance technique. Enjoy!

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RELATED:

https://mentalideas.org/2018/11/03/a-bipolar-love-story/

  https://mentalideas.org/2019/09/26/awards-success-for-a-bipolar-love-story-and-no-way-home/

Param Mirpuri Fuses Poetry, Dance and Abstract Art to Create Good Vibes Meet our newest recruit and Resident Artist Param Vibe Mirpuri! Param Vibe is a dancer, writer, visual artist and spoken word poet.

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Mental Artists Charlotte Farhan, Jade Bryant and Shawn Coss have created their own Inktober prompts for themselves and anybody else who wants to use them. Every day we’ll be adding more ExperiMENTAL Inktober Art to this project and we want YOU to get involved! Send us your art via email or tag #mentalideas #inktober @mentalideas!

To use Charlotte’s prompts (above), hashtag #⃣ #charlottefarhanart! Or you can download the Official Inktober 2019 prompts HERE!

Project Inktober Mental Artists Charlotte Farhan, Jade Bryant and Shawn Coss have created their own Inktober prompts for themselves and anybody else who wants to use them.

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Ambassador Carl Bradshaw is an independent filmmaker who has been capturing topics around mental health in his films since he started his career. He is the co-director of Elementi Media alongside Ilze Millere.

Carl’s passion for films led him to pursue a career in filmmaking. After trying a few different fields, he decided he most enjoyed producing and writing. His first short was an experimental relationship drama, Promise, which he wrote and produced. The film experienced success at several international film festivals.

Inspired, he continued to work with Ilze at Elementi Media and wrote and produced Sunset – a short war drama – and Quadratura – an experimental short film fusing dance, poetry and acting. He is currently co-producing his first feature with Elementi Media, Limerence: An Obsessive Love Story. All of his films to date have dealt explicitly with mental health subjects, including depression, post-traumatic stress, anxiety and obsessive behaviors. While it was never Carl’s intention to concentrate on mental health in his films, it happened organically due to his own experiences.

Since his early years, Carl has struggled with anxiety and depression. Growing up, he often felt disconnected from the world around him and went through some challenging times until he found a creative outlet. He started writing stories and creating characters that he could connect to and this led him to meet like-minded people in the creative industry and made him feel like he had found a place in the world. Carl utilizes his past experiences as a driving force in shaping the complex characters in his films. He hopes that by addressing mental health in the media, film audiences can find a path to feeling accepted and represented.

Like his partner, Ilze, Carl is passionate about sustainability and equal representation in the film industry. He enthusiastically supports Ilze with her sustainable filmmaking blog ZeroSet. Having studied Creative Writing and completed several short courses on filmmaking, Carl is currently studying Business Management & Marketing with a focus on film producing to help him run and develop Elementi Media.

Mental Ideas feels blessed to have both Carl and Ilze as ambassadors. We look forward to sparking ideas and collaborating across many art forms.

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Carl Bradshaw Ambassador Carl Bradshaw is an independent filmmaker who has been capturing topics around mental health in his films since he started his career.

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Ambassador and Resident Artist Param Vibe Mirpuri is a fusion artist who fuses his talents and passions for spoken word poetry, dance, character acting and abstract art to facilitate and spread mental health awareness. Param is drawn towards mental health as a driving force for his creativity. He passionately believes that understanding mental illness through the lens of performance creates a kinetic connection to raw emotion that is the power source for touching the human heart and healing the mind. Mental health recovery is all about creating the right vibe for that organic change to take place. 

Born in London, Param was raised in Mumbai, India. He has been dancing for over a decade and trained under the tutelage of Ashley Lobo at the Danceworx Company in Mumbai. While based in India, Param performed in competitions, TV talent shows and commercials for big name brands, including FILA & Puma.

Param returned to London two years ago, where he met filmmaker and fellow Mental Ideas ambassador Raffaello DeGruttola. Raff immediately spotted his potential and created a short film about mental health based around Param’s work. The short was recently announced a semi-finalist at the 2019 Best Short Film Fest in Ontario, Canada.

    With an award-winning film under his belt and his dance career in London taking off, Param suffered a frustrating setback when a knee injury severely impeded his mobility for 8 months. But instead of wallowing in self-pity, Param continued to actively pursue his career and invented an innovative chair dance! He now wants to use his dance to inspire young people with disabilities to keep active and encourage self-expression. 

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His knee injury now fully healed, Param’s been making the most of his return to mobility. Since breaking out as a solo artist he’s performed at events; including The Diwali on Trafalgar Square for London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Social Step Up at Wembley. He’s currently developing a one-man show that fuses his myriad talents and passions for spoken word, dance, acting & abstract art by bringing still drawings to life.

  Mental Ideas is excited to be collaborating with Param across many creative forms, including a special performance of his infamous ‘chair dance’ at Great Ormond Street Hospital, as a poet/actor/dancer on our short film strand 6 Short Love Stories, and as a guest presenter on our Mental Ideas Podcast. Below are some clips that display his ‘Impromptu’ dance moves. Kick back and enjoy!

RELATED:

  https://mentalideas.org/2018/11/03/a-bipolar-love-story/

  https://mentalideas.org/2019/09/26/awards-success-for-a-bipolar-love-story-and-no-way-home/

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Param Vibe Mirpuri Ambassador and Resident Artist Param Vibe Mirpuri is a fusion artist who fuses his talents and passions for spoken word poetry, dance, character acting and abstract art to facilitate and spread mental health awareness.

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Ambassador Ilze Millere is an independent filmmaker with a passion for the environment, sustainability, female empowerment and mental health. She is the co-director of independent film production company Elementi Media and the founder/ writer of sustainability blog ZeroSet.

Since her early teenage years, Ilze knew she wanted to be a film director. She started to explore this art with little films back in her home country of Latvia. She moved to the UK to study film at university, graduating with a Media Production degree, which she passed with distinction.

Ilze now works as a film director, writer and producer. Her first short film Bus Stop (2018) received a festival selection. Further films that she has directed and often written and/or produced continue to be recognized in film festivals around the world.

Ilze and her partner Carl Bradshaw set up Elementi Media in early 2019 with the goal of creating uniquely expressive, creative films with inspirational and moving stories. Their current theme concentrates on the humanity, emotions, dreams, fears and other aspects of the human condition and exploring those through visually and audibly rich films, filled with symbolism, metaphors and experimental elements.

Their first short relationship drama Promise (2019) explores a broken relationship and depression, followed by a short war drama Sunset (2019) which follows a dying soldier who struggles with post-traumatic stress and hallucinates figures from his life. Their first major production – the 40-minute long experimental drama Quadratura (2019) follows a girl who looks back at her life through a journey of emotions and memories and is structured around the five stages of grief.

Ilze is collaborating with Mental Ideas to help co-produce her first feature film, which she wrote and is directing. This dark modern fantasy about obsessive love is called Limerence. It explores multiple mental health aspects, including obsessive behaviors, fear of abandonment, anxiety and post-traumatic stress. To ensure mental health in Limerence is accurately represented, Ilze is also collaborating with Dorset Mind.

Ilze has been affected by mental health issues a few times in her life, especially obsessive behaviors and when dealing with grief after losing someone very close. Suffering multiple physical anxiety symptoms earlier this year led her to leave her full-time job and fully concentrate on her own well-being and creativity. She believes that sharing stories about mental health in her films is the best way to educate audiences about these issues and learn how to recognize and understand them better.

Ilze is passionate about female empowerment. She is drawn to making films about interesting, complex and strong female characters that are often the protagonists in her films. She is also passionate about nature and plastic-free living. In 2019 she started her blog about sustainable living and filmmaking, called ZeroSet. She finds inspiration and strength in nature, which is where most of her ideas come from.

https://www.zeroset.online/

https://www.instagram.com/ilziliana/

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Ilze Millere Ambassador Ilze Millere is an independent filmmaker with a passion for the environment, sustainability, female empowerment and mental health.

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Sneak Peak of Jade Bryant's Inktober Art Collection!

Sneak Peak of Jade Bryant’s Inktober Art Collection!

Jade Bryant is a prodigiously talented young artist from Devon, UK, and Mental Ideas ambassador. Her art is inspired by her experiences with borderline personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder. Here’s a sneak peak of her latest Inktober art collection! We CAN’T WAIT to reveal her full collection!!! #Inktober #Mental Health Awareness Month #Jade Bryant @Mental Ideas.

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When filmmakers Ilze Millere and Carl Bradshaw of Elementi Media contacted us to see if we’d be interested in collaborating with them on a feature film project, Limerence, a twisted adult fairytale about mental health starring Roe Haven, Emilie Sofie Johannesen (Transference: A Bipolar Love Story) and Madeleine Lloyd-Jones, we jumped at the chance! 

Limerence represents many issues around mental state, including anxiety, obsessiveness, and post-traumatic stress. The film is structured around the stages of obsessive love. The story is centered around fear of abandonment and how the characters use their imagination and creativity to fight this insidious fear. The main character, Gilda, battles anxiety, loneliness, panic attacks and her own overactive mind. 

Led by a female director and 1st AD, with women leading all the artistic departments and strong female characters at the core of the story, Limerence is a project that supports female empowerment in the film industry. In the top-grossing 100 films of 2018, only 4% of directors were women and only 31% of protagonists were female characters. 

As well as transmitting a bold mental health message, the film’s director, Ilze Millere, is passionate about the importance of a zero-waste lifestyle. This includes ensuring the film’s set is as sustainable as possible: ZeroSet.

Elementi is proud to be collaborating with Dorset Mind to help bring Limerence to life and spread awareness of mental health. Mental Ideas is honored to have been asked to collaborate in a similar way, as well as helping co-produce the film. The feature-length film is bound to be one of the highlights of our 2020 Mental Ideas Film Festival and we could not be more excited to be working with such a talented and passionate team of creatives on this and future film projects. Watch this mental space..! 

  Elementi founders Ilze and Carl will be guests on our upcoming Mental Ideas Podcast for RTHK and ambassadors for Mental Ideas. 

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Mental Ideas Collaborates with Elementi Media on Twisted Adult Fairytale About Mental Health When filmmakers Ilze Millere and Carl Bradshaw of Elementi Media contacted us to see if we’d be interested in collaborating with them on a feature film project, …

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Quadratura by Elementi Media Quadratura is an experimental short film by Elementi Media about visiting your life's memories and lessons before ending this life and starting another.