An artist/writer challenges Western stereotypes of madness by transforming her experiences with psychiatric institutions and mood-altering medications into innovative mental health activism and creative expression.

 

     Crooked Beauty is a 30-minute poetic documentary that chronicles the transformation of artist/writer/activist Ashley McNamara from victim of the Western psychiatric establishment to one of the world’s foremost radcal mental health activists. She survived trauma from an alcoholic mother and battled her own substance-abuse issues when diagnosed bipolar at age 19 and incarcerated. Destined to overturn the stigmas usually associated with mental illness and develop authentic healing models for individuals diagnosed bipolar, she co-founds The Icarus Project, an international support network and grassroots media project. Ashley’s mission became an intense personal quest to live with hope and dignity, and a powerful critique of standard psychiatric treatments. “Saying ‘It's nothing but a biological brain disorder’ lets everybody off the hook,” Ashley explains in the film. “And then you don't have to look at oppression and poverty and abuse and trauma.”

     Crooked Beauty’s lyrical style is integral to its subject matter. The film incarnates a new map for thinking about madness by connecting the vicissitudes of the outer world with the fissures and fault lines of human nature. Montages of urban and natural landscapes – tree saplings corralled into cement, a decaying ocean pier awash in sparkling light – visually embody the fluctuations of mania and depression described in Ashley’s voiceover testimonials. Her narration becomes the touchstone for a much broader story, suggesting that madness is not only a mental state but is also a social condition. Ashley’s presence is further embodied through her paintings and collages, and written and recited excerpts from her poetry and journals. Extended passages of silence will allow her testimonials to breathe in the minds of viewers, encouraging them to reflect on the interplay of light and shadow as metaphors for their personal experiences with health and madness.

     Crooked Beauty reshapes perspectives on the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness by presenting madness as a tool of insight and integration for individuals who openly struggle with their mental health, and anyone who might feel “crazy” in today’s chaotic world. Ashley’s poignant and revealing testimonials reach beyond the stereotypes of mental health problems to suggest that extreme sadness and sensitivity is not an illness, but a part of human experience to be explored with creativity and compassion. Thematically progressive and formally beautiful, Crooked Beautyestablishes a common ground from outside the mainstream through a story of personal transformation, courage, and empowerment.                                                                      

 

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Ken Paul Rosenthal, Director – Rosenthal makes films that lyrically weave personal and political narratives into natural and urban landscapes. He is a recipient of a Kodak Award for Cinematography, Black Maria Festival Director’s Citation, and Innovative Filmmaking Leo Diner Award. He has screened internationally in more than 70 venues including; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, New York City MOMA, Museu do Chiado Museum of Contemporary Art, Images ContreNature International Festival of Experimental Video, and the Rotterdamn International Film Festival.  www.kenpaulrosenthal.com 

 

Angel Vasquez, Producer – Vasquez is an award-winning producer and internationally established filmmaker working in television and theatrical feature-length documentary and narrative productions. He is a 2009/2010 National Association of Television Programming Executives Fellow and Princess Grace Foundation Film Award recipient. His producing and line producing credits include; ‘Colma: The Musical’ (Roadside Attractions/Lions Gate), ‘Cachao: Uno Mas!’(American Masters Series PBS and Latino Public Broadcasting, 2010), and ‘Turning Point’ (WGTE-PBS, 2009).  www.angelvasquez.com

 

Monteith McCollum, Music Composition/Sound Design – McCollum is an independent filmmaker and musician. His best-known work ‘Hybrid’, has garnered 14 festival awards in addition to the IFP/Direct TV truer than fiction Spirit Award and the New York Foundation for the Arts Prize. His films have screened at SXSW, the MOMA Premieres series, and nationally on PBS. Monteith received a Rockefeller fellowship, and a NYFA Fellowship for music composition, and composes film music for his own work and other independent filmmakers.  www.thirtymilesfromanywhere.com

 

Bonfire Madigan Shive, Musician – Shive is a visionary cellist, vocalist, composer, and progressive mental health activist whose music blends folk, art, punk, classical and avant-baroque styles. She has collaborated with many influential artists such as Neko Case, Jolie Holland, and Elliott Smith. Her commissions include an original score composed and performed for ACT's ‘Tis Pity She's a Whore’, and London's Barbican Hall ‘Twisted Christmas’ program. Shive is a contributing author to the anthology ‘Live Through This: On Creativity and Self-Destruction’, and is a founding collective member of The Icarus Project. www.bonfiremadigan.com

 

Jesse Spencer, Online Editor – Spencer has worked as an offline and broadcast online editor/colorist on independent and commercial productions for more than20 years. His editing credits include; ‘The Hamiltons’ (Lionsgate) ‘Everything Strange And New’, ‘The Violent Kind’, and ‘Strange Culture’, all Sundance entries. Spencer was a Post Supervision editor on 2010 Oscar-nominated, ‘The Most Dangerous Man in America’.  He has color edited several films broadcast on ITVS, including Ruby Yang’s, ‘Blood of the Yingzhou District’ (2006 Best Short Documentary Academy Award winner).

             

                           

??Contact

Angel Vasquez, Producer

office- 415-254-9572

info@crookedbeauty.com

www.crookedbeauty.com