Moving on from Medfield

It was 2012 and I was in eighth grade when I first discovered Medfield State Hospital. I have always been intrigued by abandoned buildings, and the grounds of the former Medfield State Hospital, operational from 1896-2003, quickly became my favorite place to explore. I became fascinated by its history and returned frequently to explore the grounds. When I was a junior in high school I met John Thompson, the Chairman of the Buildings & Grounds Committee at MSH. For some reason I thought I would get in trouble for taking photographs and walking around the property, but instead John gave me my first piece of insider information about the former asylum, along with his business card in case I ever wanted to go inside any of the buildings to take photographs. The grounds are open to the public but the buildings are not. John allows in serious filmmakers and photographers, only people with good intentions. Those trying to get a spooky selfie for their Instagram are not allowed inside any of the 58 buildings.

I kept John’s business card in my wallet for 5 years because I knew how valuable he was as connection. I knew I would one day make a film about Medfield State Hospital, I just didn't know then that it would for be my senior thesis in college. As a person who has struggled with mental health myself, I felt a connection to the patients at Medfield. However, instead of being committed to an asylum for my entire life, I got an emotional support animal. The only difference between myself and another girl who was a patient at Medfield, is the century we were born in. I got a puppy and she got a lobotomy. There is a lot more freedom of choice in mental healthcare today, and for that reason I initially decided that mental health treatment now is much better than it was when MSH was open, and I wanted to make a film that explored that idea. But it is much more complicated than that.

Modern day mental healthcare and 20th century mental healthcare are both problematic and beneficial in different ways. As John says, “like everything humans do, they go all the way to one side too far before they realize that they need to go back to the middle, that the middle is the best.” This documentary is about the progress of mental health treatment through the history of Medfield State Hospital. It is about looking at the humanity behind something so stigmatized as an “insane asylum”. It is about how far we have come with mental health treatment in America, and how far we still have left to go.

Because this documentary is not one-sided, I wanted the exterior shots in this film to be warm and faded with hints of green and orange that evoke the sense that this environment has seen a lot of love over the 107 years the hospital was open, but I wanted the interior shots to bring feelings of loneliness and isolation, so many of these shots have cooler tones. I wanted to be sure to include the first-hand perspectives of MSH patients, but because of HIPAA and the hundred-plus year time gap, I was unable to. So, I included old interviews, postcards, footage, and letters to really step inside MSH and ensure that the most important voices were heard.