Movies That Matter, The Hague, with Cinemind and FilmForward
By Rebecca Day
By programming both a masterclass and a small, intimate deep dive, we were able to begin contextualising this issue — and to normalise the uneasy feelings of overwhelm and risk that can arise when making films that grapple with the darker parts of the human experience.
And still, it wasn’t enough time. It never is. How much time would we need, as thinkers, activists, healers, change-makers and creatives, to truly understand the work we are engaged in?
So many of us work closely with distressing material and vulnerable communities — and many are personally connected to the stories being told. During this time together, we slowed things down to ask: What does this work actually do to our brains and bodies? How do we recognise vicarious or secondary trauma? And how can we build ways of working that are ethical, sustainable and genuinely caring — for ourselves, our crews, and the people whose stories we hold?
I was struck by how often we don’t know what our knowledge gaps are until they’re filled — and how quickly we forget that we once operated without those resources.
Much of our work over the past few years has been about naming things: naming the mental health crisis in the industry; naming the lack of support and the stigma around receiving it; naming the fears and uncertainties around what our responsibilities really are as filmmakers; naming the power imbalances that shape this work. I could go on — the list is long.
I’ve come away from this exchange knowing that, while naming things is vital, it’s not enough on its own. We also need to build our toolboxes — to support us to work with trauma, with activism, and with care and reflective practice at the core of everything we do.
Grateful for the openness in the room, the depth of the conversations, and the collective commitment to doing this work with greater awareness and responsibility. These conversations matter — not just for wellbeing, but for the integrity of the stories we tell.
Thank you to Movies That Matter, Cinemind and FilmForward for having me.