"Lights! Camera! Mental illness?" Screenwriting mental health

Ryan Sheales - (Media office) - +61 3 8344 3845 - 0402 351 412 For interview - Dr Fincina Hopgood - 0416 047 412 - Email Professor Raimond Gaita - Via 0402 351 412  - Email More options - ?  Read full program - ?  Register The portrayal of mental illness on screen will be put under scrutiny at the University of Melbourne and The Dax Centre next month. The two-day event,  Try Walking in My Shoes: Empathy and Portrayals of Mental Illness on Screen ,  will have a particular focus on Australian films including 'Romulus, My Father', 'Shine', 'Cosi' and 'Mental'. Event organiser Dr Fincina Hopgood, from the University's School of Culture and Communication, said the study of mental illness on screen is an emerging field of study. Dr Hopgood said portrayals of mental illness affect how well it's understood in the wider community. (Listen to audio, below.) "Sometimes troubling stereotypes are perpetuated which can lead to stigma towards mental illness, but these stereotypes can also be challenged by sensitive screen portrayals," she said. The interdisciplinary symposium is being presented by the  ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions , based at the University of Melbourne, and  The Dax Centre , which is a not-for-profit organisation that uses art to increase understanding of mental illness and psychological trauma. It will analyse how mental health is portrayed on film and television, how these portrayals may have changed over time and the cinematic techniques employed by filmmakers and TV producers to elicit emotion or empathy for a character with mental illness.