Doco gives voice to psychiatric survivors, receives rave reviews prior to premiere

The secret, often shameful history of New Zealand’s psychiatric hospitals is laid bare in Mental Notes, a new feature-length documentary by award-winning filmmaker Jim Marbrook.
Receiving its world premiere this Saturday (31 March) as part of the World Cinema Showcase, Mental Notes is a “gently affirmative” film, according to Bill Gosden, director of the New Zealand International Film Festival.
Featuring the testimony of five survivors of the “very bad old days of mental health care in New Zealand”, it “honours their endurance and enables their stories to emerge from the shadows and leave their indelible blemishes on our social history”, says Gosden.
Jim Marbrook’s interest in the subject was prompted by earlier work he’d done with people who’d experienced mental health difficulties, much of which he drew on for his award-winning 2005 documentary Dark Horse.
“I realised there was a kind of hidden social history in the memories of those who went through our old mental institutions, colloquially called ‘the Bins’,” says Marbrook. “These stories were so strong I realised I needed to find a way of telling them.”
With a grant from the Frozen Funds Trust, Marbrook undertook a three-year odyssey during which he crisscrossed the country, visiting every ‘Bin’ ever built, ploughing through mountains of archival material, and interviewing survivors of what was an often inhumane system. The interviews, in which former patients recall their experiences with (in Gosden’s words) “dismay, disbelief and a touch of gallows humour”, form the heart of the film.
One of these survivors is Anne Helm, who observes that “for many, the path to healing is about accepting that things have happened”.
Mental Notes enables the voices of a group of people too long ignored to finally be heard.
It also provides a prism through which the success or failure of today’s mental health services can be judged.
"Some of the ex-patients we interviewed are now involved in mental health care as advisors and support workers, and talking to them gave us a renewed understanding of today’s issues,” says Marbrook. “Topics like the continued use of ECT [electroconvulsive therapy] and the practice of seclusion are still so salient, while there’s also the real and perceived differences in in-patient care.”
The film has received some significant critical support ahead of its theatrical debut
Graeme Tuckett, film reviewer for the Dominion Post and Radio New Zealand, National, has urged cinemagoers to “go see it”, calling it “a stunning film: moving, funny, and – even though I hate this word – important”.
The film has been endorsed in an equally enthusiastic way by Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand chief executive Judi Clements, who says it serves as a reminder “of an era that to a large extent has passed but should not be forgotten” and also offers “messages of hope and shows the benefit of human relationships and compassion to our mental health and wellbeing”.
Tuckett, who rates it as one of the top half-dozen New Zealand documentaries he’s seen in the past decade, also describes it as “very, very acute and fast-moving and surprisingly entertaining … it’s just a very, very strong piece of work”.
The film was made with the financial support of the Frozen Funds Trust and a feature film finishing grant from the New Zealand Film Commission.

• Watch the Mental Notes trailer

• More on Mental Notes

World Cinema Showcase session details for Mental Notes:
• Please note the venues in which Mental Notes is playing have limited seats, so booking tickets well in advance is advised to avoid disappointment.
Auckland
Saturday 31 March, 6pm, Rialto Newmarket [click here to book for this session]
Sunday 1 April, 1:50 pm, Rialto Newmarket [click here to book for this session] 
Monday 2 April, 11:30am, Rialto Newmarket [click here to book for this session] 
Sunday 8 April, 4 pm, Bridgeway Cinema [click here to book for this session] 
Wellington
Friday 20 April, 12pm, Paramount Cinema [click here to book for this session]
Saturday 21 April, 6 pm, Paramount Cinema [click here to book for this session] - 
Dunedin
Monday 23 April, 6:15 pm, Regent Theatre
Tuesday 24 April, 11:15am, Regent Theatre [click here for Regent bookings]
Christchurch
Saturday 5 May, 5:30 pm, Hollywood Theatre
Monday 7 May, 12 pm, Hollywood Theatre [click here for Hollywood bookings] -

About the World Cinema Showcase
From the organisers of the New Zealand International Film Festival, the World Cinema Showcase is an annual collaboration between the NZ Film Festival Trust and enterprising exhibitors in Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin and Christchurch. Now in its 14th year, the Showcase screens an important mix of intelligent features and documentaries in Auckland (from 29 March), Wellington (5 April), Dunedin (19 April), and Christchurch (26 April).