Wild Horses - new film on ME/CFS is short listed for prize at Cannes Fi

charles shepherd

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Wild Horses - a new film about ME/CFS has been short listed for a prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival

Guardian review:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...ort-film-to-compete-for-cannes-festival-prize

Apart from the Guardian review I do not know any more about this film at present

I have just been talking to to SKY TV news - who are setting up an interview and intending to do a report on this film later today (Friday 14th April)

Dr Charles Shepherd
Hon Medical Adviser, MEA
 

A.B.

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Wild Horses, which he wrote and directed, is about a teenage girl who has myalgic encephalopathy (ME), or chronic fatigue syndrome. Housebound by the condition, and struggling with her over-protective mother, she runs away from home, searching for a horse and trying to establish her independence.

I'm worried this film will send mixed messages about the condition. Like a housebound patient that can apparently simply decide to not be housebound and run away from her overprotective mother (a stereotypical element in psych. models of pediatric ME/CFS).

Describing the inspiration for his film, Stewart said: “I have a very close friend who has ME, an illness that can be very destructive both physically and mentally, so that was the seed.

Maybe there is hope still?
 

charles shepherd

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I'm worried this film will send mixed messages about the condition. Like a housebound patient that can apparently simply decide to not be housebound and run away from her overprotective mother (a stereotypical element in psych. models of pediatric ME/CFS).



Maybe there is hope still?

Yes, these are perfectly valid concerns and I don't have an answer right now because I have no more info at present than what is in The Guardian

Anyway, I've just done a Skype interview with SKY TV concentrating on what ME/CFS is and the need to raise awareness among both the public and health professionals

SKY news decided that they did not want a trip out to the Cotswolds today!

The SKY report on the film should be appearing on SKY News later today

CS
 

Revel

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Am hoping that the actual film is more accurate than the current media coverage:

"Wild Horses was made a by a group pf graduating NFTS students and actors Emma Curtis and Emma Cater both star in the short film.

The NFTS is headed by Nik Powell – whose own films include the Oscar-winning The Crying Game.

Powell said: “It’s an emotional film… There’s a lot about older people and memory loss. It’s great to see a film which is dealing with a mental illness that is much more experienced by young people."

- The Scottish Sun

:cautious:.
 
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char47

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I really really hope i'm wrong but the trailer worries me a great deal... it appears to show a girl ill in bed in the dark (a familiar theme/experience) but it seems she's being held back by her mother rather than actually being that ill (an element of the film which could, if it catches on, be catastrophic for very severe children & their families), & then her 'escaping'.
- i mean just the smile on her face when she gets on the bus....How many pwme who are bad enough to be housebound would be smiling rather than suffering on a bus?! Yikes. It would be torture for me.

Sorry i hope i'm wrong but i'm worried this film is the CBTGET fan club's dream come true.

But many thanks for giving of your time & expertise in trying to get some facts across to sky @charles shepherd, especially during what is 'time off' for many. As you always do.
 

Valentijn

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Powell said: “It’s an emotional film… There’s a lot about older people and memory loss. It’s great to see a film which is dealing with a mental illness that is much more experienced by young people."
He wasn't directly involved in this film, so hopefully he's just a random idiot who thinks he has an enlightened opinion about everything.

But yes, based on the trailer the girl has a surprising lack of difficulty in doing a lot of walking, for someone who is supposedly housebound.
 

Revel

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He wasn't directly involved in this film, so hopefully he's just a random idiot who thinks he has an enlightened opinion about everything

The fact that Powell wasn't directly involved is what concerns me.

Clearly his uneducated impression, on watching the film, is that it is about a girl with a mental illness - so what will the wider audience make of it?

It doesn't sound like a serious piece and even the film's director, during an interview, describes it as a bit of a comedy and the main character as a "silly girl".

It's only fair to reserve judgement until we have viewed the entire 26 minutes - but the clips released so far made me feel uncomfortable at best.
 

wastwater

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The trailer is barmy is it a comedy,or an advert for horses,I personally always wanted a monkey that would go to work for me
 

charles shepherd

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The film maker, Rory A Stewart, has left these comments beneath the MEA website coverage of this story:

I am the filmmaker, I would just like to make a few things clearer; she is in recovery and has been housebound, but her mother has not allowed her out despite her improvements. The film is based off of my friend’s recovery (that because of over-exertion or bad luck ended in a very severe relapse that has returned her to a housebound state). I’m very sorry about some of the wording and interpretations of the press so far, I am relatively new to talking about my films to journalists.

I made this film because it breaks my heart that someone as creative and funny and intelligent as my friend is trapped by her own body, with an illness few people know or care about. She is a person with a fantastic sense of humour which is why I could not see this film as anything other than a comedy (with, of course, dramatic elements). The film is not a handbook for dealing with M.E., I cannot guarantee this film will change minds about or perfectly explain M.E.

It is a story about a young woman and her relationship with her mother. There are so many varying experiences of M.E. I cannot represent them all in one short film, only what I know from my own experiences around the illness. I can assure you she is not physically healthier by the end of the film, quite the opposite. As a sufferer of M.E. said to me today on Twitter “living life is a hard urge to resist”, and this is the character’s central problem, how to feel she is “living life” while still looking after her health. Her mother is overbearing and over-protective, but she isn’t wrong. There are of course such shades of grey lost in the interviews.

I can only apologise for the quote from the NFTS about mental illness, that is something I have already requested that they do not repeat and I have publicly disavowed. It was spoken out of an innocent lack of knowledge.

I hope this reply addresses some of the issues that may worry you.

thanks

MEA website news section: www.meassociation.org.uk
 
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I think Rory's intentions are good but I think it is unfortunate that there is a focus on the girls (difficult) relationship with her mother. As cyclamen said us mums often get a hard time of it. A lot of us can be made to feel that we are 'over protective' or worse.
 
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