Kazuhiro Soda, 135 min, HD, Color, 2008

MENTAL is a documentary that observes the complex world of an outpatient mental health clinic Chorale Okayama in Japan, interwoven with patients, doctors, staff, volunteers, and home-helpers. People with various mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, panic disorder, and personality disorder visit Chorale Okayama to see Dr. Masatomo Yamamoto. When Dr. Masatomo Yamamoto, founder and director of Chorale Okayama, worked for a mental hospital, he questioned why the locks installed on the doors of the wards could only be unlocked from the outside. ”These locks are not for patients but for doctors and staff,” he thought. Then, he became a pioneer in the movement to get rid of locks from psychiatric wards. At Chorale Okayama, he tries to support patients so that they will be able to live in society.

MENTAL adalah film dokumenter yang mengamati dunia yang rumit dari para pasien rawat jalan dari klinik kesehatan mental Chorale Okayama di Jepang, berkaitan dengan pasien, dokter, karyawan, sukarelawan, dan perawat rumah. Orang dengan berbagai macam penyakit mental seperti schizophrenia, kesalahan bipolar, salah makan, panik, dan cacat kepribadian mengunjungi Chorale Okayama untuk bertemu Dr. Masatomo Yamamoto. Pada saat Dr. Masatomo Yamamoto pemilik sekaligus penemu dari Chorale Okayama masih bekerja di rumah sakit jiwa, dia bertanya kenapa kunci dipasang agar hanya dapat dikunci dari luar. “Kunci-kunci itu bukan untuk para pasien tetapi untuk para dokter dan perawat.” Lalu, dia menjadi penemu dalam gerakan pembebasan dari bangsal psikiater. Di Chorale Okayama, Dr. Masatomo Yamamoto mencoba untuk mendukung pasien sehingga mereka dapat hidup dalam masyarakat.

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Kazuhiro Soda

was born and raised in Japan and has lived in New York since 1993. He has directed numerous fiction films and TV documentaries. His first feature documentary CAMPAIGN (2007) was invited to about 25 film festivals around the world, including Berlin Film Festival (Forum), Cinema du Reel, Fribourg Film Festival, SXSW, Hong Kong Film Festival, Hot Docs, Dox, and Nantes 3 continents Film Festival. CAMPAIGN was theatrically released in Japan in 25 cities across the nation and the DVD has been widely released. It was also screened at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City for a week. A.O. Scott of The New York Times wrote, “Campaign may invite a certain skepticism about democracy, but it will surely restore your faith in cinema verite.” Its 52-minute version was broadcast as a part of the WHY DEMOCRACY? Series in almost 200 countries on such broadcasters as BBC, ZDF/ARTE, CBC, NHK, among others. It will also be broadcast on
PBS nationally in the United States in the summer of 2008. He is currently shooting SEINENDAN (working title), a feature documentary about an internationally acclaimed playwright/director Hirata Oriza and his theater company.  Soda holds a BFA in Filmmaking from the School of Visual Arts with honor, and a BA in Religious Studies from Tokyo University.

- WINNER Best Documentary Pusan International Film Festival 2008