HBI is excited to partner with filmmakers Bonnie Waltch and Sara Schley to present the documentary BrainStorm: Transforming the Bipolar Landscape on Tuesday, September 22nd. Pizza and refreshments will be served at 5:00pm. The film screening will begin at 5:15pm and be followed by a panel discussion.
About the film:
BrainStorm follows six compelling people living with bipolar in their journey from devastation to recovery. The film connects their experiences with the latest bipolar brain science to shed light on potential causes and successful treatments.
Through the stories, we learn that bipolarity exists on a spectrum, that two out of three people with bipolar do not exhibit classic signs of mania and, as a result, are consistently misdiagnosed. Yet when properly diagnosed and treated, they can and do live full, rich — and even extraordinary — lives.
BrainStorm opens up a timely and crucial conversation about diagnosis and treatment to save lives, maximize healing, and end stigma for millions of people around the globe who live with bipolar, and all those who love them.
Learn more and watch the trailer >>
Panel discussion:
Bonnie Waltch is the director, producer, and writer of BrainStorm, a feature-length documentary film about the bipolar spectrum. She is the award-winning senior producer and writer of the one-hour international broadcast documentary, Earth Emergency, and series of five short films, Climate Emergency: Feedback Loops, which was launched in January 2021 with a virtual event featuring the Dalai Lama and Greta Thunberg and attended by over one million viewers globally. The films have been featured in more than 50 film festivals worldwide.
Sara Schley is a business consultant, social change entrepreneur, speaker, and author who has led systemic transformation at renowned companies around the world. She is a mother, grandmother, community leader, and has been married for thirty years. She also lives with bipolar II on the bipolar spectrum. Sara kept this mostly secret for four decades. Until now. In her memoir, BrainStorm: From Broken to Blessed on the Bipolar Spectrum, the inspiration for BrainStorm the film, she tells her riveting story to save lives, end the stigma, and maximize healing.
Andrew Nierenberg, MD, is the Director of the Dauten Family Center for Bipolar Treatment Innovation at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Co-Director of the Center for Clinical Research Education in the Division of Clinical Research, Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and Thomas P. Hackett, MD Endowed Chair in Psychiatry at MGH. His primary research interests are clinical trials in bipolar disorder, especially bipolar depression and major depressive disorder.