Using a variety of sources, SPYRAL follows one bipolar woman and the impact it has on her family.
Social & External
The people behind it
Michelle Trachtenberg
Michelle Cody White (voice)
Michelle Cody White
Self (archive footage)
When a school trip leaves a group of teenagers stranded far from home, the recent suicide of a classmate begins to expose the fractures, loyalties and secrets holding them together.
A major feature-length ITV documentary about footballer Terry Butcher will chart his career as well as the devastating personal tragedy of the loss of his Army veteran son. Butcher is one of England's most celebrated players, with 77 caps, seven times as captain. Photos and footage of him playing on with a bandage around a head injury during a vital World Cup qualifier provide one of the iconic images of the national team's history. Butcher's achievements in the club game include trophy-winning stints at Ipswich Town and Glasgow Rangers. But Butcher: Invisible Wounds also tells the story of the personal loss he endured following the death of his son Chris, a British Army veteran who passed away after suffering severe PTSD.
In the underground world of diffing, a community finds solace in their passion, as they navigate personal struggles and challenges both on and off the road.
Incarcerated participants in a mental health experiment watch videos of sunset-soaked beaches, wildflowers and forests on loop, prompting them to reflect on isolation and wilderness. Equal parts meditation and provocation, Blue Room identifies the damage done by withholding access to the outdoors and how we are all prisoners when the essential human need for communion with nature is denied.
Due to the measures taken by the government, students have fewer and fewer prospects for a meaningful future. Life is on pause and society is kept in fear. The confidence in a bright future is gone. Even after 18 months, there is still no light at the end of the tunnel. The many promises have not yet changed this situation. In this moving documentary, young people give an idea of the impact of the measures on their lives. Is there still hope or has the damage already been done?
Based off the novella of the same name, Ezra Roscoe's "The King In Yellow" is the tale of the unknown, and what can happen if one is unprepared to experience it.
The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation has declared a “State of Emergency”, after an outbreak of youth suicides has devastated the community. Due to a lack of Federal assistance, residents have taken prevention efforts into their own hands. A tenacious Oglala Lakota elder takes charge, rallying the community to get involved, while empowering a resilient young group of suicide survivors to band together to help raise awareness.
When the Cows Come Home introduces audiences to Tilly and Maggie, a pair of cows that musician, journalist, artist and cow whisperer, Andrew Johnstone has befriended and subsequently saved from slaughter. The garrulous herdsman is enthusiastic to expound his views on animal husbandry, bovine communication and the vagaries of life in general, before the film walks us back through the events that have shaped the singular farmer-philosopher. From personal family tragedy to warring with Catholic school authorities, innovating in Hamilton’s nascent music scene to creating guerrilla art installations; Johnstone’s life has had a truly idiosyncratic trajectory. Mental health issues may have seen him retreat to life on the farm, but the film makes clear its subject’s restless inquisitiveness is far from being put out to pasture.
A 2023 Perth Anthology Feature Film. Four directors come together to create and dissect an exploration of mental health through four short, but horrifying stories and genres; Sci-Fi, Gothic, Fantasy, and Psychological.
After facing several years of hardships, Gabriela, the director and protagonist of this short documentary, is involuntarily relocated by her family to a rehabilitation center for three months. During this time, she encounters a series of prohibitions that result in complete isolation from society, surrounded by individuals grappling with severe mental health issues. Four years after her release, she embarks on an introspective journey to definitively close that chapter of her life. This poignant documentary immerses us in Gabriela's courageous odyssey, offering an intimate look at her struggle for self-reconciliation and familial understanding. Through powerful imagery and sincere testimonials, the short film invites the audience to contemplate human resilience and the pursuit of forgiveness.
Kirsty must survive an afternoon in the city centre until her accomodation can be arranged at a homeless shelter.
The lives of Jeff, Lauren and Lloyd—three very different people who share one common experience—have been transformed by speaking up for mental health. These inspiring stories depict what mental health in America really looks like and highlights just how important it is to speak up and seek help.
For those who electrical sensitivity, there aren’t many places to seek refuge. In a remote part of West Virginia, the so-called National Radio Quiet Zone offers one such escape.
Little Mix star Jesy Nelson goes on a journey of rehabilitation as she opens up about abuse she has suffered at the hands of cyberbullies and its effects on her mental health.
Álvaro has long felt that his life has lost all meaning. Just as chaos threatens to overwhelm him, a mysterious young woman appears, offering what might be his last hope.
Four-time Emmy winner John Kastner was granted unprecedented access to the Brockville facility for 18 months, allowing 46 patients and 75 staff to share their experiences with stunning frankness. The result is two remarkable documentaries: the first, NCR: Not Criminally Responsible, premiered at Hot Docs in the spring of 2013 and follows the story of a violent patient released into the community. The second film, Out of Mind, Out of Sight, returns to the Brockville Mental Health Centre to profile four patients, two men and two women, as they struggle to gain control over their lives so they can return to a society that often fears and demonizes them.
The Bridge is a controversial documentary that shows people jumping to their death from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco - the world's most popular suicide destination. Interviews with the victims' loved ones describe their lives and mental health.
Seeking solace in the early hours of the morning, young men across Bristol gather in gyms to train every night. Alone or with friends, these individuals combat their everyday struggles through exercise, adopting the philosophy that mental strength comes from a foundation of physical strength. But what are the struggles that led them all to the gym in the first place? We set out to interview these individuals and listen to their tales of heartbreak and loss that drove them to adopt this nocturnal lifestyle. With one suicide every 90 minutes in the UK and 75% of these being male, we hope this documentary can help those struggling with their mental health to realise that they are not alone. These men share not just their struggles but advice on how to overcome tough times in the hopes that their words can save the next guy.
In 1995, the Saint Paul de Mausole nursing home in Saint Rémy de Provence opened an art therapy workshop as part of the Valetudo association. A Dutch painter and the nursing staff of Saint Paul accompany women who discover and reveal themselves in the shadow of a certain Vincent van Gogh.
Follows the story of Freddie Stevenson from his meteoric rise through high school and college football to a chaotic life afterwards that led him to reinvent himself and rise up all over again. This documentary connects similar stories of struggle and redemption from motivational speaker Tony Gaskins, "General Hospital" star Maurice Benard, NFL and CFL player Delvin Breaux, and more. These stories are raw and uncut, just as they want to to tell them.
James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici go on an adventure to find the lost city of Atlantis by using Greek philosopher Plato as a virtual treasure map.
This real-life thriller tells the story of one of Israel’s prized intelligence sources, recruited to spy on his own people for more than a decade. Focusing on the complex relationship with his handler, The Green Prince is a gripping account of terror, betrayal, and unthinkable choices, along with a friendship that defies all boundaries.
In 1994, a 13-year-old boy disappeared without a trace from his home in San Antonio, Texas. Three-and-a-half years later, he is found alive in a village in southern Spain with a horrifying story of kidnap and torture. His family is overjoyed to bring him home. But all is not quite as it seems.
This remarkable journey across our planet and universe explores how meteorites, shooting stars, and deep impacts have awoken our wonder about other realms—and make us rethink our destinies.
This documentary delves into the mysteries surrounding the Neanderthals and what their fossil record tells us about their lives and disappearance.
This is the true story of a love triangle that takes place entirely online. Lies lead to murder in real life, as a teenage vixen (screen name 'talhotblond') lures men into her web. Revealing a shocking true crime story that shows the Internet's power to unleash our most dangerous fantasies.
A woman’s Holocaust memoir takes the world by storm, but a fallout with her publisher-turned-detective reveals her story as an audacious deception created to hide a darker truth.
Reaching 29,029 feet, Mount Everest has long captivated mountaineers of all stripes. But a peak that draws athletes and mountaineers to new heights isn’t without danger — or a dark side. Perhaps the peak’s greatest mystery is the missing body of Andrew “Sandy” Irvine who disappeared alongside George Leigh Mallory in 1924 just 800 vertical feet from the summit. In Lost on Everest, we follow along as a team of elite climbers with new intel on the location of his missing body set out to solve what may be mountaineering’s great mystery. Along with the body, the team hopes to find Irvine’s camera and the footage that could rewrite history.
Dr. Steven Greer presents brand new top-secret evidence supporting extraterrestrial contact, including witness testimony, classified documents, and UFO footage, while also exploring the consequences of ruthlessly enforcing such secrecy.
Black holes stand at the limit of what we can know. To explore that edge of knowledge, the Event Horizon Telescope links observatories across the world to simulate an earth-sized instrument. With this tool the team pursues the first-ever picture of a black hole, resulting in an image seen by billions of people in April 2019. Meanwhile, Hawking and his team attack the black hole paradox at the heart of theoretical physics—Do predictive laws still function, even in these massive distortions of space and time? Weaving them together is a third strand, philosophical and exploratory using expressive animation. “Edge” is about practicing science at the highest level, a film where observation, theory, and philosophy combine to grasp these most mysterious objects.
Illusionist Derren Brown concocts a psychological experiment in which he tries to manipulate an ordinary person into taking a bullet for a stranger.
Darwin meets Hitchcock in this documentary. Directors Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine have created a parable about the search for paradise, set in the brutal yet alluring landscape of the Galapagos Islands, which interweaves an unsolved 1930s murder mystery with stories of present day Galapagos pioneers. A gripping tale of idealistic dreams gone awry, featuring voice-over performances by Cate Blanchett, Diane Kruger, and Gustaf Skarsgard.
Illusionist Derren Brown reinvents the concept of "faith healing" through a series of stunts that debunk the confines of fear, pain and disbelief.
In September 2012, the tiny prairie town of Leith, North Dakota, sees its population of 24 grow by one. As the new resident's behavior becomes more threatening, tensions soar, and the residents desperately look for ways to expel their unwanted neighbor.
