A collective glimpse at the documentary ecosystem

by Serra Ciliv

What does emotional, relational and ethical support for documentary filmmakers look like?  What does advocating for better mental health in the documentary industry involve?

As a collective of therapeutic practitioners, Film in Mind has been working with filmmakers on the complex issues they navigate while making their films. Their work involves co-facilitating the filmmakers’ process in the face of trauma, challenging social realities and psychological complexity. In many sessions, safety and protection for the filmmakers themselves, their contributors, teams and audiences are among the primary concerns.

Serra Ciliv will begin by talking briefly about some of the main questions her work with filmmakers has left her with. She will then invite volunteers from the audience for a group process around a case: to feel, express, and listen to the different roles, ghosts, edges, relational patterns, belief systems, and structural dynamics in the field.

This is an invitation to engage not only intellectually, but also to collectively tap into the dreaming of what – in a given moment in time- happens in the ecosystem of the documentary process and how all parts within it interact with each other. 

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