Clair Obscure - a visual autobiography on Vimeo by Kathy Slamen

Clair (french - Clear: perceiving or discerning distinctly)

Obscure (enveloped in, concealed by, or frequenting darkness, )

 

A cinematic self portrait about the anatomy of a nervous breakdown and living with manic depression.

This was my 2nd student film from Concordia University. It has won many awards and been shown all over canada and the US as well as Europe and continues to touch the lives who experience viewing it.

 

It was an important film to make then, and the message is still important now.

Mental illness is a real disease, and people with mental illness often suffer in silence, because there is a HUGE STIGMA ATTACHED TO MENTAL ILLNESS IN ALL ITS FORMS.

 

 

This is my story, my history, my documentation of what life is like for somebody who suffers from manic depression and what the genesis of a mental breakdown really looks like.

 

 

Please excuse the quality as it is a copy from an old 16mm film copy.

I'm currently trying to find funding to create a new digital transfer of the original film.

 

but in the meantime, sit back, and learn a little more than you did yesterday about mental illness.

 

Watch this video on Vimeo. Video created by Kathy Slamen.

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