Dance-theatre company Northern Rascals will premiere the moving new short film online for free during Mental Health Awareness Week, releasing on Tuesday, May 13 at 7pm.
This emotionally charged film, an extension of the critically acclaimed SUNNY SIDE dance theatre production, was co-created through workshops and a community focus group in Calderdale. Drawing on the lived experiences of local young men, the short film tells the story of one young lad’s struggle with mental health - and the vital need for kindness, vulnerability, touch, and support.
Featuring dance artist Soul Roberts in the lead role, alongside local men, actors and dancers from across the Calder Valley, the film offers a rare, tender look at the pressures of growing up and the impact of home and place on mental wellbeing. It premiered at the Hebden Bridge Film Festival in April to an emotional response and now serves as a digital legacy.
Anna Holmes, Co-Artistic Director at Northern Rascals said: “We wanted to make something real. This film is a love letter to the soft parts of ourselves, to the men and boys opening up to talk, and to the communities finding ways to listen.”
She continues: “In January, we held a drop in session at The Trades Club in Hebden Bridge. We’d just spent 4 years making a dance theatre show about mental health in men in the valley - the place we had grown up in. As we were about to go on tour across the UK, we wanted to reconnect with the men of our valley. How was their mental health today? Is our show still true, still relevant?
"We met with men from the ages of 18-75, some of which had come specially, some who had been made to come (sorry Dad!) and others who had seen a sign on the street and needed to speak to someone - anyone.
"Those brave and beautiful men shared their highs, their lows, their struggles, their hopes for the future. And together, we sat and listened.
"With their permission, we took notes. In my notebook was this: I have a coat of armour, my struggle isn’t worth talking about as there are people struggling worse than me, I don’t want to stand out, I just want to be loved, it’s dark and wet around here, it’s easier not to have the conversation, I’m stuck in a rut, hanging on by a wire. And perhaps one that really resonated and inspired the film: one night I went dancing, and that was the night the depression got attacked. Touch got me out of the rut; you can’t be depressed and dancing.”
The SUNNY SIDE theatre tour lands at Leeds Playhouse on 12 and 13 June, continuing its mission to open up conversations around youth mental health through bold, physical storytelling.
The SUNNY SIDE Short Film will be made available for free online on 13 May at 7pm, inviting audiences to engage with the full scope of the project’s creative and social impact.