Film and exhibition explore mental issues as part of First Fortnight
The acclaimed Irish film The Drummer and The Keeper will be screened in Galway City’s Town Hall Theatre, on Tuesday, January 16, at 8pm, as part of First Fortnight. This is a two-week mental health arts festival that has been staged in Dublin and locations nationwide since 2012.
The charity First Fortnight was founded in 2009 and its festival, held annually in the first two weeks of January, includes events that are designed to provoke discussion around mental health. Its aim is to end the stigma that can prevent people from seeking help when they most need it.
The Drummer and the Keeper tells the story of an unlikely friendship between two young men. Gabriel is a reckless young drummer with bipolar disorder, who revels in rejecting society’s rules and Christopher is a 17-year-old with Asperger’s Syndrome, who longs to fit in.
It was written and directed by Nick Kelly, whose short film Shoe was shortlisted for an Academy Award.
This heartwarming story that shows the strength of friendship in the face of adversity grew out of personal experience, according to its creator, the former front-man of Irish band the Fat Lady Sings.
“The core inspiration came from something I’ve both experienced myself and seen happen to other people: that at moments of massive personal crisis, those closest to you on paper (family, best friends) are often fairly useless – but other most unlikely people often appear in your life to say, do or give you what you really need,” says Nick.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.