TNT Original Movie, Paper Spiders, premiered on TNT Africa (DStv Channel 137) last Sunday, 14 May, at 20:00 CAT – with an important message about mental health.
In the film, recently-widowed Dawn experiences growing anxiety as her daughter Melanie plans to move away for college. An argument with a hostile new neighbour aggravates Dawn's mental condition, and she begins to show signs of paranoid delusions. Determined to help her mom, Melanie attempts a series of interventions, but challenging Dawn's real feelings of persecution threatens to destroy their loving relationship. Melanie is forced to make the toughest choices as she struggles to support her mother on the path to recovery and healing — a bittersweet story about coming of age in the shadow of mental illness.
“TNT Africa is joining the battle to raise awareness of and remove the stigma around mental health challenges,” says Guillaume Le Gros, Director, Programming and Acquisitions, WBD GE Networks France and Africa. “Films are at their most powerful when they hold a mirror up to real life – and it’s the everyday challenges of life that test our resilience and mental health.”
The South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) fields as many as 3 000 calls per day and 2 800 WhatsApp messages a month from people asking for help or trying to understand how to help a loved one living with mental illness. “The last few years have provided plenty of tests for humanity’s mental and physical health, and we want people to know that it’s ok to share their challenges,” adds Le Gros. “Simply sharing them with someone can help them find a glimmer of hope or help them get effective, positive treatment.”
Paper Spiders is part of the TNT Original Movie series launched in 2020, spanning a wide range of mainstream entertainment genres and featuring renowned international casts. It stars Lili Taylor (Mystic Pizza & Say Anything); Stefania Owen (‘Puddle Kadubic’ in the television series Running Wilde and Dorrit Bradshaw in the teen drama television series The Carrie Diaries; Ian Nelson (The Boy Next Door, The Hunger Games & The Best Of Me) and Peyton List (‘Holly Hills’ in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid film series).
If you or someone you know is in need of help or just wants to talk to someone, contact SADAG by calling 0800 567 567 0800 567 567 (24-hour toll-free helpline), texting 31393 or visiting www.sadag.org.
No comments:
Post a Comment