Experiencing Interruptions?

Blue Monday

When Carol, a social worker, is forced to perform a mental health assessment on someone deeply ingrained in her past she fears his condition to be far worse than it appears on the surface, soon realising that his life may hang in the balance of the decision she makes.

  • Fintan O'Connor
    Director
  • Matthew Edge
    Writer
  • Naomi Rachel Smith
    Producer
  • Flynn Alberry
    Producer
  • Rowen Bridler
    Key Cast
    "Carol"
  • Adam Bellamy
    Key Cast
    "Thomas"
  • Richard Cawte
    Key Cast
    "Dr. Fletcher"
  • Gavin Fraser
    Key Cast
    "Dr. Harrow"
  • Daniel Szolnoki
    Cinematography
  • Project Type:
    Short, Student
  • Genres:
    Social Realist, Drama
  • Runtime:
    19 minutes 20 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    September 1, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    9,000 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.66:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Arts University Bournemouth
Director Biography - Fintan O'Connor

Fintan O’Connor is a young London based filmmaker and recent graduate from Bournemouth Film School, where he specialised in directing and producing. Having grown up around the theatre world, Fintan was able to observe and learn from a number of creative practitioners throughout his education and was exposed to the craft of performance and storytelling from a young age which quickly developed into his passion for filmmaking. As a director his approach to storytelling, both visually and narratively is grounded in reality, preferring complex characters over a complex plot and always striving to find the truth in a particular performance or scene.

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Director Statement

Forty years ago, in 1983 the mental health act was first introduced in the UK providing the legislation for the process of sectioning. While discussions of mental health have certainly come a long way since then, I immediately felt upon reading the script that ‘Blue Monday’ had something new to offer the conversation. Being set in the 1980s and with the focus on sectioning as a physical manifestation of the loss of control someone with a severe mental condition may feel, it was a touching story we all felt needed to be told. Personally, as a director it presented an interesting opportunity as it was not a story which required the distraction of flashy camera tricks or heavily stylised visuals but would rather rely on a set of nuanced and assured performances that could carry the weight of the subject matter at hand. Ultimately it is a film which is just as relevant today as it would have been all those years ago.