Experiencing Interruptions?

Careless

Careless is a film about mental health and young people told through the story of Evie, a young dancer who took her own life in 2014; we also hear stories of other young people who have suffered mental health problems. The film examines stresses young people experience that cause mental health issues and hears directly from participants about what they have done to help themselves. The film attempts to show the audience what mental illness feels like through use of voice, sound and arresting visual images

  • Catriona Taylor
    Director
  • Caitlin Delves
    Key Cast
  • Madeline Hubert
    Key Cast
  • Sam Hubert
    Key Cast
  • Bel Hubert
    Key Cast
  • Jamie Delves
    Key Cast
  • Fraser Douglas
    Key Cast
  • Euan Thomson
    Key Cast
  • Alison Ford
    Key Cast
  • Aimee Young
    Key Cast
  • Eleanor Walker
    Key Cast
  • Professor Rory O'Connor
    Contributors
  • Alexis Hesketh
    Contributors
  • Sir Anthony Seldon
    Contributors
  • Aishling
    Contributors
  • Emma
    Contributors
  • Erin
    Contributors
  • Helen
    Contributors
  • Jamie
    Contributors
  • Josh
    Contributors
  • Lesley
    Contributors
  • Natasha
    Contributors
  • Rob
    Contributors
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental
  • Runtime:
    44 minutes 53 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    October 22, 2016
  • Production Budget:
    12,000 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16.9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Catriona Taylor

Catriona Taylor is a visual artist who uses film as part of her practise.

In 2009 she was awarded a Cabn/Creative Scotland Visual Artist Award to make a short film about following the Cross Borders Drove Road on horseback. The subsequent film was screened at the first Alchemy Film Festival in 2010 and other venues such as the RSA Gallery in Edinburgh.
In 2012 Catriona was given the Alchemy Film Festival’s first commission to make a film about the Hawick Common Riding. The film Kick Oan, was shown in October 2012 at the Alchemy Festival in Hawick.
Careless was funded through Kickstarter and made in response to a young friend's suicide.
With painting she has had several solo exhibitions, including Amber Arts, Edinburgh, Stanza Poetry Festival in St Andrews, The Park Gallery, Falkirk, Tweeddale Museum, Peebles and has been part of a number of group painting exhibitions including the RSA annual exhibition, SSA and VAS at the RSA Galleries, Gracefield Arts Centre, Leith Gallery, Edinburgh Printmakers.

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Director Statement

Evie Douglas had just celebrated her 21st Birthday, she had a place at the Laban Dance School to look forward to, she was artistically talented and had many friends as well as a loving and supportive family. What would make such a young woman take her own life?
We know that suicide rates among young people have risen dramatically and we wanted to make a film that enables viewers to enter these troubled worlds and makes us as a society sit up and take stock of the increasing problem.
We used animation and expressive dance as a means to get inside the heads of those with depression and to demonstrate the mental disturbance of anxiety – we wanted to visualise it in striking ways rather than simply verbalise so that the audience would have their own experience of what it feels like.
We wanted to find out what the pressures are which young people face that can cause mental health problems.
Some of the answers were a surprise; one of the biggest anxities was exam pressure. Several young people we talked to had pushed themselves to breaking point to get exemplary exam grades.
Other answers were less surprising, such as cyber-bullying, although the horror of the experience lingered.
We wanted to show mental illness as being a very common thing which can affect anybody and in fact many of our funders had either experienced mental illness themselves or someone they were close to had.
We used the metaphor of snow and ice to convey suicidal thinking and how people can feel trapped and unable to escape the unbearable pain they are feeling. Evie's parents talk movingly and with unflinching honestly about how their daughter's suicide has affected them.
But we also wanted to highlight methods the young people had used to help themselves, in particular those who have turned from the shadow of suicide to seeking help, returning to life with a sense of hope and feeling renewed . Ultimately we wanted to show that just as with any other illness you can get better. So, although very sadly it is too late for Evie, the viewer is left with a feeling of hope and optimism.