Film Explores Mental Health Crisis – Silence, Shame Worsen Suffering

FREMONT, CA – Psychiatrist turned filmmaker Kenneth Rosenberg examines a national health crisis in the film Bedlam, which will be shown Saturday, February 8 at 1:30 p.m. as part of the Second Saturday Documentary Series at Niles Discovery Church, 36600 Niles Boulevard (at the corner of Nursery Ave., Fremont). The screening is free and open to the public.

“For centuries, we, individuals and families living with serious mental illness, have suffered in silence and shame,” said Rosenberg. “We can no longer be ashamed, and we can no longer stay silent.”

An Official Selection in 2019 for the Sundance Film festival, Bedlam follows the emotional stories of people fighting severe mental illnesses as they are pushed into the paths of police officers, ER doctors and nurses, lawyers, and prison guards.

Haunted by the death of his mentally ill sister, Rosenberg takes us inside Los Angeles County’s overwhelmed and under-resourced psychiatric ER, a nearby jail – housing thousands of psychiatric patients – and the homes and homeless encampments of people suffering from extreme mental illness.

This film shines a light on the events that led to the closing of mental institutions from the 1950s to the 1980s and left a skeletal mental health support system in its wake. “The mentally ill are falling through the cracks of American society landing in jails, sleeping in parks or on sidewalks, or disappearing completely,” said the Rev. Jeffrey Spencer, senior pastor at Niles Discovery Church. “All while we wait for solutions from policy makers and Big Pharma.”

Following the film, there will be a discussion moderated by the Rev. Barbara Meyers, a community minister specializing in Mental Health.

The Second Saturday Documentary Series is co-sponsored by Niles Discovery Church and the San Jose Peace and Justice Center. Learn more about the series at http://bit.ly/nilesssds.