FRAMES
FILM
PROGRAM
KENJI P., Cycle 1 Participant and Writer and Director of Boomerang Betty (2012)
"It was such a safe environment to speak your mind out; ... No one felt like a freak for being there."
The shame never really went away though. The topic of mental illness makes a lot of people uneasy. It was a skeleton in my closet.
[The Frames Film Program] definitely was fun. It was such a safe environment to speak your mind out; especially because [it] is set up in a scheduled, but very relaxed way. No one felt like a freak for being there....
Several times we had guest speakers, many of whom were industry professionals come and talk to us about film and their lines of work. We also [got] to work with high quality equipment and software that most people wouldn't have any access to. All of this came together at the end of the program when we filmed a short called Boomerang Betty (2012). It was screened in the Woodward's Building, and we were all so proud of it."
"When I had depression, I never looked for help. I was always ridiculed by the people around me; and it caused me a lot of shame for having a mental illness... Years later I gradually became healthy.