I was lucky enough to film a short documentary just before the UK plunged into its third national lockdown.
Titled Letitia, Letitia had also been cast as the spiritualist woman in my short fictional film Raw Vision.
Due to the first coronavirus lockdown, that part had to be scrapped.
The documentary is investigative style, exploring Letitia’s real-life decision to stop medication prescribed for bipolar disorder, and how she is managing without it.
Letitia is the singer/songwriter known as Madame Kapuscinska, and the documentary also features ‘Don’t Give Up‘, which I was pleased to film and record live in her home studio.
My pitch described the documentary as mostly observational, similarly known as cinema verite (‘truth’ cinema), direct cinema, or fly-on-the-wall filmmaking.
This was more by accident than design.
Letitia has responsibilities to husband and two young children, as well as physical and mental health issues, so finds staged filming for too long difficult. I often just followed her as she went about her day, and as a one-person crew, this was challenging in terms of lighting, sound, and framing.
The film, less than 10 minutes long, was shot in 3 half days, although I had also recorded some audio separately over the summer. The participants agreed not to be paid.
Some research has found a link between bipolar disorder label and creativity, other names in the music industry who have been given this label: Kanye West, Britney Spears, Adam Ant (who has said ‘I don’t accept the terminology’).
Regarding psychiatry, there are restrictions on patient autonomy by mental health legislation, which may make it especially important to offer choices.
It is why I was interested to film a situation where such a person is being autonomous.
The recent BBC News: How Norway is offering drug-free treatment to people with psychosis, and the ODDESSI trial in the UK, suggests choice for people with psychosis (long overdue) may be creeping into the mainstream.
References
Kyaga S et al (2013). Mental illness, suicide & creativity: 40-year prospective total population study. Journal of Psychiatric Research 47(1): 83-90
Everitt M (2011). Adam Ant on fame, depression and infamy. bbc.co.uk
Doyal L, Sheather J (2005). Mental health legislation should respect decision making capacity. British Medical Journal 331 (7530): 1467-1469
Rugkasa J (2016). Effectiveness of Community Treatment Orders: The International Evidence. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 61(1): 15-24
Proctor L, Pressly L (2021). How Norway is offering drug-free treatment to people with psychosis. bbc.co.uk