Discussion on Mental Health Challenges in Film Industry at Malmö Arab Film Festival

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Cairo: Hossam Abbas
Malmö Arab Film Festival held a discussion session entitled “Mental Health Challenges within the Film Industry” in which Mina El Naggar, Egyptian actor and founder of Medvest Egypt, participated, and Louise Johansson, actress Sane Cinema, expert in mental health and filmmaking, and the Lebanese actress Nada Abu Farhat, who has played a number of complex roles in cinema, television and theatre.
Mina Al-Najjar said that he is happy to collaborate with the festival in strengthening the conversation about the mental health of workers in the field of art and discussing concerns related to the creative process and the challenges that the creative person goes through, be it pressures or problems. facing the creative process at all stages, during preparation, implementation or presentation.
He pointed out that the industry itself, the unions, representatives and leaders have a great responsibility regarding the mental health of their employees, as well as their personal responsibility regarding a person’s balance and how he deals with himself, noting that Fèis Medvest will deal with many discussions about the same issue.
He said that the quality of psychological support for workers in the creative industries is different from that given to ordinary people, especially because workers in the creative industries have different pressures and problems from the average person, because they are not exposed to the same responsibility. And the problems. the nature of the creative process, or to ensure that the creators are not exposed to bad pressure that could affect their mental state.
He pointed out that the artist, in the age of social networking sites, is exposed to double pressure through comments, criticism, and sometimes bullying on his social media accounts.
He said that the past has a great influence on a person’s gift not to understand the reason for the feelings he feels now, but by returning to the past and digging in, we know what happened and the reason for this effect it requires understanding and psychological knowledge that knows how to bring out the events of the past.
Al-Najjar recalled what the artist Salwa Muhammad Ali said at the Medvest session in Damanhour: “Nobody knows exactly what emotions he feels at this moment, because it’s not like acting.” “
The Lebanese actress Nada Abu Farhat said during the session that there are measures to preserve a person’s mental health, stressing that there is still fear in revealing mental illnesses and she revealed the disease.
She talked about the period of depression she went through, but she didn’t even reveal it to her closest friends to appear with them on a podcast, mentioning that she was unable to move from the bed, without explaining it to them. that the issue was psychological and not symptomatic.
She said: “As an actress who made her career in the field, I see that we are exposed to pressure and problems, and we have a lot of negative energy at first, I could not face it and it was I’m always frustrated. but now, after realizing it, I’ve decided not to let the negative energy affect me, and I’ve become proud of being calm and relaxed. I can’t bear it.”
During the session, Louise Johansson said that pressure and comparison between others is what workers in the creative industries in the field of art suffer the most, whether they are actors or behind the camera, ‘ emphasize that there are many workers in the field of cinema, especially documentaries. , and especially those who work in the field of montage, who spend a lot of time working With the filmed content, it is believed that they need psychological support to maintain their mental health more than others.
Artist Bushra, who was in the audience, mentioned the importance of having a psychologist on the set of artwork films to relieve the pressure on the actors and help them with to display the true feelings of the character, as well as helping to get rid of it. of the psychological and nervous pressure that the actor is exposed to, because he plays every role in his life, noting that the actor on filming sites is not only working, but also the -constantly performing roles and tasks that are not his duties, so he must be a psychiatrist on the filming site.
She said: “The artist is under a lot of pressure in the field of work and cannot express his displeasure with other people or with the situations in which he is exposed to want to deal with it, besides has been exposed to bullying from a lot of people, whether it’s working people.” “With him in the same field, in journalism, or elsewhere.”