Inspiration Forum

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27

10:00–⁠11:45 AM
Melt-down on the Set
Panel discussion on mental health and the film industry

The film industry is a challenging work environment – it is highly volatile, risky and complex in terms of relationships, financial instability, pressure to perform, at the same time requiring flexibility and creativity. It foreshadows the future world of labour in general. What steps are needed individually and systemically to make such work psychologically sustainable, and what to do if you are part of such a challenging work environment?

Guests: Irena Taskovski, Martin Mareček, Rebbeca Day*
Moderated by: Marta Balaga

*Rebbeca Day will join us live from Scotland.

12:30–⁠1:30 PM
On the Edge*
The inner world of poet M'Badjala Diaby

Living with borderline personality disorder is an endless struggle filled with pitfalls, feelings of helplessness, fears and unbearable social pressure. Vain attempts to fall asleep or, conversely, to get out of bed in the morning sometimes end with a stay at the psychiatric ward. Living on the edge of viability and suicidality makes it all the more apparent how fragile the human psyche is and where to look for hope for recovery. Ten times about liminal moments and balancing on and off the edge of mental illness with M’Badjala Diaby.

Guest: M'Badjala Diaby

*Czech language only

2:30–⁠4:00 PM
Choosing the Hard Way
Documentary dialogue about the fight for freedom

Fugitivity and migration are most often associated with the motivation to live a better, safer and more comfortable life. However, there are moments when people go to places from which others are trying to escape. In the extraordinary story of an Afghan filmmaker, the desire for safety and comfort gives way to the intention of turning her country into a place from which people don’t have to flee. Her fate also demonstrates the unforeseen power that individuals can have in their endeavours, and how important it is that they don’t stand alone.

Guest: Sahraa Karimi*
Moderated by: Filip Remunda

*Sahraa Karimi will join us live from the United States.

5:00–⁠6:30 PM
The Origin of Trauma
Keynote speech by Bruce Perry and discussion on dealing with painful experiences

For many psychologists and psychiatrists, childhood trauma is the key to understanding the problems of their clients. Even a seemingly marginal experience can turn into unreflected trauma that plays a fundamental role in shaping our personality. How can society deal with widespread trauma? Can it be prevented? And what can families, schools, and other institutions do better?

Keynote speech: Bruce D. Perry, MD, PhD*
Guests: Klára Lurenčíková, Jiří Kylar
Moderated by: Petr Třešňák

*Bruce D. Perry will join us live from the United States.

7:30–9:30 PM
Relax, please
Workshop on relaxation techniques

Enough talk. The body, mind and soul need something else, too. We often don’t know how to relax, take a break from work, relieve stress, and stop the flow of intrusive thoughts. Come and relax and recharge at a relaxation workshop where you will learn and try beneficial relaxation techniques that can then become part of your new and calmer life.

Guest: Mira Babiaková
Moderated by: Petr Bouška

GUESTS

Mira Babiaková (Slovakia)

Head Doctor at the Hélio Mental Health Centre. She graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Bratislava, and from 1995 to 2001 she worked at the Bohnice Psychiatric Hospital, namely at the Crisis Intervention Centre (from 1999). From 2001 to 2003 she was the Head of the Inpatient Unit at the RIAPS Crisis Centre. Since 2008 she has been running a private psychiatric outpatient clinic. Together with Dagmar Jančová she also lectures and teaches relaxation techniques as part of the Training in Relaxation Techniques for Professionals. Since 2020, she has been working with the National Institute of Mental Health on the development of a self-care module for health professionals organized under the project of the NA ROVINU initiative (as part of the Destigmatization project that is implemented within the framework of the reform of psychiatric care in the Czech Republic), and she regularly lectures at webinars.

Marta Bałaga (Poland)

Film journalist. She is a member of the Finnish Critics’ Association SARV, International Federation of Film Critics FIPRESCI and the European Film Academy, where she has joined the committee deciding the nominations for the European Discovery 2019, 2020 and 2021 – Prix FIPRESCI. She has published in Variety, Cineuropa and regularly contributes to Finnish film magazine Episodi. She has collaborated with various festivals, including Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy and its industry sidebar Finnish Film Affair. She has served on many juries, including Venice International Film Critics’ Week at the Venice Film Festival in 2019.

Petr Bouška (Czech Republic)

He is an external presenter at Radio Wave, where he hosts the Balanc programme focusing on self-development, healthy lifestyle and the importance of healthy relationships. His own anxiety and experience as a silent child, a melancholic teenager, a socially phobic university student and finally a neurotic employee led him to therapy. In his own words, it gave him a tremendous gift of self-discovery. He continuously educates himself, has started psychotherapy training, lectures on mental hygiene in companies and creates online courses.

Rebecca Day (United Kingdom)

Rebecca is a freelance Producer and trained Psychotherapist. She has produced a number of award-winning shorts and was a producer on This Is Scotland, a series of 30’ docs for STV. As well as doing outreach on SDI’s films, she produced Becoming Animal, directed by Emma Davie & Peter Mettler (2018) and is in production with Silent Men, Duncan Cowles, recipient of the BFI Raw Talent Award.

M'Badjala Diaby (Czech Republic)

Poet and a model. She studies literary and linguistic culture at the University of Hradec Králové and performs as a slam poet. Through social media, she opens up the topics of racism and mental health. In March she published her first poetry collection, Na Hraně (Borderline) that reflects on the experience with borderline personality disorder.

Sahraa Karimi (Afghanistan)

Film director. She studied at the Faculty of Film and Television at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, where she received her PhD, becoming the first woman in Afghanistan with this degree in filmmaking. Her feature debut Afghan Women Behind the Wheel collected awards at a number of international film festivals. Since 2012, she has lived and worked in Afghanistan in the film industry, and since 2019, she has been the head of the state-run Afghan Films. She had to flee Afghanistan after the Taliban seized Kabul this August.

Jiři Kylar (Czech Republic)

He runs a print shop and serves as a councillor in the village of Halouny, where he lives with his family. At the age of 12, he became the victim of abuse by a Catholic priest and this abuse lasted until he reached adulthood. At the age of 22, he experienced repressed trauma, which took him two years to process and bring under control. He eventually confronted the abusive priest and they worked things out. The topic of abuse in the Catholic Church is being publicized in an effort to create a safe environment. Jiří remained an active Catholic believer and has not given up on the Church or God because he has met with great priests during his life. He is currently the co-chair of Někdo Ti uvěří, a project that helps victims of abuse, not only in the Catholic Church, to find the courage and open up about their story in a confidential setting.

Klára Laurenčíková (Czech Republic)

Special education expert and chair of the Government Committee on the Rights of the Child. Klára Laurenčíková is an expert guarantor of the children’s mental health agenda at the Ministry of Healthcare. She lectures externally at the Department of Special Education at Charles University, is the founder and chairwoman of the Czech Professional Society for Inclusive Education and co-founder of the Dobrý start initiative, which aims to assist with placing young children from institutions in families. In 2016, she was named an Ashoka Fellow as an advocate for systemic change in the field of inclusive education, thus becoming a part of a global network of social entrepreneurs and innovators. Klára Laurenčíková received an award from the Olga Havel Foundation in 2019 for her work promoting quality and openness in education systems and transforming the system of care for children at risk.

Martin Mareček (Czech Republic)

Film director and teacher. He studied at the Department of Documentary film at FAMU, where he currently leads Documentary workshop. He was at the birth of several social activities - Letokruh, Jednotka, Auto * Mat and he also worked as a musician. In the role of playwright, he participates in a number of documentaries of his colleagues. He is the author of several internationally acclaimed feature films, including Dust Games (2001), The Source (2005), Auto * Mat (2009), Solar Eclipse (2011) and Over the Hills (2019).

Bruce D. Perry, MD, PhD (USA)

​Neuroscientist and psychiatrist. Over the last thirty years, Dr. Perry has been an active teacher, clinician and researcher in children’s mental health and neurosciences. His work on the impact of abuse, neglect and trauma on the developing brain has impacted clinical practice, programs and policy across the world. This work has been instrumental in describing how childhood experiences, including neglect and traumatic stress, change the biology of the brain – and, thereby, the health of the child. His most recent book, What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing, co-authored with Oprah Winfrey, was released in 2021.

Filip Remunda (Czech Republic)

Czech director, cameraman, and producer. He studied documentary filmmaking at FAMU and co-founded the Institute of Documentary Film, which helps to promote Czech film abroad. He gained wider public awareness along with Vít Klusák with their controversial film reality show about a fictitious hypermarket entitled Czech Dream. He received the Pavel Koutecký Award for his film Tadpole, the Rabbit, and the Holy Ghost.

Irena Taskovski (Great Britain)

CEO and founder of Taskovski Films network, a London-based world sales and production company with offices across Europe. Irena is working as film consultant/expert on marketing, sales, financing and festivals for many film institutions e.g. HBO Europe, TRT world, Asian Cinema Fund, Dok.incubator CZ, Sources Germany, and Head Tutor at Emerging Producers – at Ji.hlava IDFF CZ. Founder of the training programme focusing on initiative art of creative producing and distribution, the Film Academy for Conscious Creative Leaders and art and film residencies. Irena studied in Prague, graduating from FAMU. She also studied at the Sam Spiegel Film and TV School in Jerusalem and obtained a Master’s degree from the National Film and Television School in London, UK.

Petr Třešňák (Czech Republic)

Czech journalist, since 2001 he has been an editor of the Respekt weekly. Petr Třešňák focuses mainly on social and health issues. He is the co-founder and chairman of Naděje pro děti úplňku, an organisation that brings together parents of children with autism spectrum disorders and strives for better and more accessible social services for people with disabilities. In 2014, he won the Journalist Award of the Czech Psychiatric Society for his article "Children of the Full Moon" about children with autism and in the same year he received the Ferdinand Peroutka Prize. The book Zvuky probouzení (Waking Sounds) in which Petr Třešňák and his wife chronicle their experience of raising a daughter with autism, was nominated for the Magnesia Literary Prize in 2021.

FILM SELECTION

Images can speak louder than words. Check out our selection of films from the Ji.hlava IDFF’s festival programme.

BEATRIX (Austria, 2021, Milena Czernovsky)
BETULA PENDULA (Germany, 2021, Lina Zacher, Thomas Wellner)
DARK LIGHT VOYAGE (Mexico, Vietnam, 2021, Eva Cadena, Tin Dirdamal)
HOW I BECAME A PARTISAN (Czech Republic, Slovakia, 2021, Vera Lacková)
JANE BY CHARLOTTE (France, 2021, Charlotte Gainsbourg)
WHEN WE WERE BULLIES (USA, Germany, 2021, Jay Rosenblatt)
LOVE, DAD(Czech Republic, Slovakia, 2021, Diana Cam Van Nguyen)
TELL ME (Estonia, Jordan, 2021, Marta Pulk)
SANTELMO (Italy, Philippines, 2021, Liryc Dela Cruz)
OUT IN STRENGTH (Czech Republic, 2021, Martin Mareček)

READING LIST

If you want to delve deeper into the topic, here is a selection of the most interesting texts and other resources recommended by the programme guests, which are definitely worth the read!

THE DECISION OF MY LIFE (NEW YORK TIMES)
An interview with an 18-year-old girl who had to abandon her studies and instead goes through daily torture from members of her own family who are trying to persuade her to marry a Taliban man for the sake of their protection. It gives us a glimpse of how women's lives have changed in Afghanistan since the Taliban took power again in August 2020.

SÁRA BÁCHOROVÁ AN(N)A, EDNA NOVÁ: ŽENY Z BOHNIC (POINTA)
M'Badjala Diaby: “I would definitely like to recommend the books written by my colleagues at Pointa that have contributed to the destigmatization of psychological disorders: An(n)a by Sara Báchor and Ženy z Bohnic (Women of Bohnice) by Edna Nová. I also need to mention Zápisník alkoholičky (The Notebook of an Alcoholic) and its follow-up, Zápisník abstinentky (The Notebook of an Abstinent) by Michaela Duffek. Both books bring a new perspective on people with addictions.”

OPATRUJ.SE
"The last two years that were negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and safety measures hit children the hardest and shed more light on the problem of inequalities in the Czech education system. At the same time, this led to the deepening of targeted multidisciplinary cooperation in the interests of differently-abled children. The topics of mental health and well-being have gained importance both in the professional discussion and in public space. New platforms and websites promoting mental health have emerged, such as https://dusevnizdravi.edu.cz or https://www.opatruj.se."