Getting it Right: Portraying mental ill-health and suicide on stage and screen

GETTING IT RIGHT

Portraying mental ill-health and suicide on stage and screen

Join us to hear about the opportunities and challenges of portraying mental illness or suicide on stage and screen.

The event is aimed at stage and screen content developers and will include training sessions by Mindframe on the portrayal of mental illness and suicide on stage and screen, followed by a panel discussion with playwright Mary Rachel Brown, screenwriter Glen Dolman and screenwriter/director Nicholas Verso, and a Q&A session. 

When: Saturday 22nd June 2019, 2pm – 5pm

Where: AFTRS Theatrette, Australian Film Theatre and Radio School, Building 130, The Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park NSW 2021, Sydney. The venue is wheelchair accessible. 

RSVP: Tickets are free but RSVPs are essential. 

A limited number of free child minding spots for children aged 0-6 will be available on the day. Places will be allocated on a first in first served basis. If you would like to access the crèche, please fill out the form when booking your ticket and we will be in touch with further information.

Everymind is a leading Institute dedicated to the prevention of mental ill-health and suicide. It has been delivering successful mental health and suicide prevention programs for over 25 years. https://everymind.org.au/

This event is made possible with support from Create NSW

Panellists: 

Glen Dolman

Glen recently wrote the feature filmI Met a Girl, a comedy-drama starring Brenton Thwaites and Lily Sullivan which was directed by Luke Eve and produced by Adam Dolman. He created, wrote and executive produced the six-part supernatural drama series Bloom (Playmaker Media/Sony International) which premiered on Stan in Australia in early 2019 and stars Jacki Weaver, Bryan Brown, Phoebe Tonkin, Ryan Corr and Daniel Henshall. 

He has written the feature film Modern Love- the true story of iconic artist, Sidney Nolan’s love affair with art patrons, Sunday and John Reed - to be directed by Rachel Ward.  In 2017 he wrote the web series comedy-drama High Life which screened on Channel Nine in Australia, Fullscreen in the US, BBC Three in the UK, and won the C21 International Drama Award.    

He previously wrote the TV movies, Hawke, for Network Ten, based on the controversial life of former Prime Minster, Bob Hawke (winning an Australian Writers’ Guild Award and three Australian Film Institute Awards, including for best telemovie or mini-series) and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab for the ABC, adapted from the 19^th century classic novel. 

His other television credits include the animated series Flipper & Lopaka, the puppet series Li’l Horrors, the sci-fi series Silversun, the dramas Head Start and Always Greener, the UK’s longest running crime drama The Bill (ITV), the Cartoon Network sitcom My Spy Family and RTE’s IFTA-award winning medical series The Clinic, the highest rating Irish drama.

Mary Rachel Brown

Mary has an Associate Diploma in performing Arts and is the recipient of the following: National Playwriting Awards – 2016 Lysicrates Prize, The 2008 Rodney Seaborn Award, 2007 Max Affords Award and The 2006 Griffin Award.  Her play, Last Letters has been in repertory at the Australia War Memorial for the last eight years and her most recent work Dead Cat Bounce opened Griffin Theatre Company’s 2019 season.  Her most notable work is The Dapto Chaser which was commissioned and developed by Merrigong and re-produced by Apocalypse Theatre for Griffin Independent, Glenn St Theatre and Hothouse. The play was recently screened at Dendy Cinemas as part of Australian National Theatre Live’s program. Other works for the stage include All My Sleep and Waking - Apocalypse Thea-tre, Permission to Spin - Apocalypse Theatre, Inside Out - Christine Dunstan Productions, Die Fledermaus (Adaption) - Sydney Conservatorium of Music, National Security And The Art Of Taxidermy - The Glynn Nicholas Group. Mary’s TV credits include sketch writing for The Elegant Gentleman’s Guide to Knife Fighting for ABC and several episodes of Home and Away for Chanel 7. Mary is a proud member of The Australian Writers Guild and a supporter of Women in Theatre and Screen.

Nicholas Verso

Nicholas Verso is an exciting filmmaker who recently directed his first feature film, supernatural skate film Boys In The Trees for Mushroom Pictures. The film won Best Narrative feature at the Austin Film Festival, screened as the Toronto International Film Festival and Busan International Film Festival and had its world premiere at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival. The script also won the NewDraft Award at NewFest 2011, received a rehearsed reading at the Lincoln Center in New York and was also nominated for the Monte Miller AWGIE Award.

Nick’s short film work includes Hugo (winner of the Grand Prize for Fantasy at the Rhode Island International Film Festival), three Apocalypse Bear webisodes (funded by the City of Melbourne), Flight (a Tropfest finalist) and most recently, The Last Time I Saw Richard (funded through Screen Australia’s Springboard programme and winner of several awards including Best Short Film at the 2014 AACTA Awards and Best Emerging Filmmaker at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival).As a director, Nicholas has attended the Berlinale Talent Campus, Binger FilmLab Directors Coaching Programme (Amsterdam), trained with Song Of The Goat theatre company (Poland), won the 2013 Inscription LA Residency and was awarded an Asialink Arts Fellowship to Beijing in 2015. His television work includes directing the Emmy award-winning Nowhere Boys for Matchbox Pictures, Snake Tales – a children’s sitcom for Network Nine (winner of the ATOM award for Best Children’s Programme and Gold Remi Award at Worldfest Houston) and directing multi-platform content for Conspiracy 365, Dangerous Remedy, Time Of Our Lives, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (Season 2 & 3), Molly and Glitch.

Getting here

AFTRS is located in the east end of the Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park. There are directional signs throughout the precinct, click here for a full map.  

Driving

Enter the precinct via Errol Flynn Boulevard off Lang Road. Parking is available in the Entertainment Quarter facility, and you can validate your parking ticket at the AFTRS reception desk to receive a flat daily rate of $10. Note: you cannot access AFTRS from Cook Road.

Public Transport

Frequent bus lines operate along Anzac Parade to and from the city and Central Station. The most convenient stops are close to Lang Road. We recommend you plan your trip on public transport with Transport NSW’s Trip Planner, where you can find more detail on options and tickets. 

Central Station is the closest train station, approx. 40 mins walk away or accessed by bus.

Taxis

Please instruct Uber and taxi drivers to pick up and drop off on Errol Flynn Boulevard, as their GPS occasionally directs them to delivery docks where there is no pedestrian access. A taxi rank is also located at the far end of Errol Flynn Boulevard.