Like Crazy, (Paolo Virzi, Italy, 2016) Reviewed by Franco Ferrarini, Gastroenterologist and Film Reviewer Beatrice (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) and Donatella (Micaela Ramazzotti) live in a Mental Care Health Home. The former is an upper class mythomaniac, a compulsive liar with fantastical stories, whilst the latter comes from a lower socio-economic class and suffers from severe […]
Category: Film and Media
Revisiting Dunkirk: A Call to Action
Dunkirk (Christopher Nolan, 2017, United Kingdom) Reviewed by Sanaa Hyder, MSc. Health Psychology Dunkirk opens with these words: “The enemy has driven the British and French armies to the sea. Trapped at Dunkirk, they await their fate. Hoping for deliverance. For a miracle.” This succinctly captures the sentiment of a beautifully-rendered war film portraying the […]
Talk to her: Creativity Without Boundaries
In this blogpost we have Raghda, multi-talented Arab artist, in conversation with our Film and Media Correspondent, Khalid Ali. Not many artists can claim as many titles as does Raghda, an Arab actress, poet, journalist, humanitarian and activist. Making her acting debut in The Peacock (1982), directed by Kamal Sheikh, she played the enigmatic bereaved […]
‘Your Love Protects Me’: The Pleasures and Perils of Caregiving
América, directed by Erick Stoll and Chase Whiteside, USA 2018 Showing on Saturday and Sunday 9th and 10th June at Sheffield Doc Fest, Review by Professor Robert Abrams, Professor of Old Age Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York Toward the end of the arresting film, América, a tour de force that depicts nearly […]
Sometimes Dreams May Come True
On Body and Soul (2017), Hungary, directed by Ildikò Enyedi. Reviewed by Dr Franco Ferrarini Whereas defining ‘Body’ should be straightforward, the same literal approach may not apply to defining ‘Soul’. Soul may be defined in strictly religious terms (i.e. an immaterial entity, considered immortal by some creeds, which leaves the body at death) or as […]
Talk to Her: Arab Women Unveil Taboos
In this podcast, three film industry women talk mental health and violence with our film and media correspondent, Khalid Ali. ‘Mamsous: Deranged’ is a short film about mental health and wellbeing through the story of three people, who share their experiences with clinical depression and panic attacks. It was directed by Shatha Masoud, an Emarati […]
Talk to Her: Deconstructing Taboos in Arab cinema
Egyptian pioneer film director Enas El-Dighade in conversation with Medical Humanities film and media correspondent, Khalid Ali 2017 was a significant year for women worldwide. The #MeToo and #Timesup campaigns caught international media attention by emphatically stating that injustice and discrimination against women can no longer be met with a blind eye. Women who publicly spoke about […]
Transcending boundaries and checkpoints
Muhi- Generally Temporary (By A Thread), directed by Rina Castelnuovo-Hollander and Tamir Elterman, London Human Rights Watch Film Festival, Barbican, 11 and 12 March 2018 We present a guest review by Professor Robert Abrams, Weill Cornell University, New York. The film will screen in both Toronto and New York. In the opening scene of Muhi- […]
How Do We Find Meaning When We Are Going to Die?
In this podcast Dr Khalid Ali, Medical Humanities film and media correspondent, interviews Dr Amy Hardie at the Sudan Independent Film Festival where she held a training workshop for film students. Dr Amy Hardie is a documentary film-maker with several international awards. Her documentary feature, The Edge of Dreaming, was the first Scottish feature […]
The Taste of Marmalade: My Top Ten Films of 2017
By Dr Khalid Ali, Film and Media Correspondent In 2017 the British healthcare system was dominated by news of escalating pressure on hospital beds and crisis alerts on a daily basis, longer than ever waiting times for clinic appointments, cancellation of elective procedures, and a surgeon signing his name on the livers of patients he […]