fiscal sponsorship
Ourselves: Madly Seen (Provisional title)
No Image To Display
TYPE: Documentary Short
GENRE: Documentary
STATUS: Development
LOGLINE
What does self-care look like for Asian Americans with lived experiences of mental illness?
SYNOPSIS
What does self-care look like for Asian Americans with lived experiences of mental illness or mental health differences is the question that Chanika Svetvilas, an interdisciplinary artist, seeks to answer in her 26- to 40-minute experimental documentary that weaves together the narratives of three Asian Americans in New Jersey.
ARTISTIC STATEMENT
As a Thai American woman who has navigated the psychiatric system from my first hospitalization at the age of twenty-four to my last at the age of forty-two, Chanika Svetvilas (https://chanikasvetvilas.com/) has not only a story to tell, but also a community that she has built with mad pride. She has struggled with bipolar mania, depression, a suicide attempt, and blips through the years, sometimes without health insurance, other times without my preferred choice of care. She also recognizes the support she received and the stigma and discrimination she endured. But she also knows she was not alone. Through her art she found community. She met other Asian Americans who self-identified with a mental health difference who wanted to join her in sharing their experiences to break stigma and give others the opportunity to feel seen. She was aware that according to the CDC, suicide is the leading cause of death among Asian American young adults age 15-24. She wants to affirm the experiences of these young people not as data, but by their humanity in a short 40 minute documentary.
KEY CREW
Chanika Svetvilas - Director/Producer
Chanika Svetvilas (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist. Svetvilas was the co-founder of ThaiLinks and the biennial Thai Takes film festival, the first Thai film festival in New York. She has presented her work at the College Art Association Conference, Society for Disability Studies Annual Conference, Pacific International Conference on Disability and Diversity and exhibited at the Denver International Airport, Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning, ABCNoRio, Brooklyn Public Library, Westbeth Gallery, and Asian Arts Initiative. Her work is published in Studying Disability, Arts, and Culture, An Introduction by Petra Kuppers; A Body You Talk To: An Anthology on Contemporary Disability, edited by Tennison Black; and Disability Studies Quarterly. She was an Artist-in-Residence at the Ida B. Wells Just Data Lab at Princeton University, 2022-23.
Pearl Ji-hyon Park - Producer
Pearl J. Park is an award-winning filmmaker and activist who uses film to achieve social justice objectives. She has been using her film "Can" to help break the silence about mental illness in Asian American communities, as well as to contribute to the broader public discourse about mental health and cultural competency. "Can" won the 2015 Audience Choice Award at Viet Film Fest, the largest international Vietnamese film festival in the world and an honorable mention in the 2012 Voice Awards, a national award for films respectfully and realistically depicting the experience of behavioral health issues.
She (scholar.harvard.edu/pearlpark/) is a graduate of Harvard University. She has served on the boards of the New Jersey Asian American Association for Human Services and Disability Rights New Jersey. In recent years, she was appointed by the United States Commission on Civil Rights to the New Jersey Advisory Committee on civil rights.
Connect With The Filmmakers:
ACCOLADES
Help promote my fundraising campaign
Put our donation widget on your website
The Gotham Film & Media Institute is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to finding, developing and celebrating the people and projects that shape the future of story.