Crooked Beauty
2010, HD Video, Super 8mm, color, b/w, sound, 30 minutes
A poignant chronicle of artist-writer Jacks McNamara’s courageous journey from psych ward inpatient to co-founder of the pioneering, peer-support mental health network, The Icarus Project. The fissures and fault lines of human nature are embodied in the unstable topography and mercurial weather patterns of the San Francisco Bay Area and the crumbling architecture of Detroit. Original music score and sound design by Monteith Mccollum. Additional music by Bonfire Madigan Shive.
Director Essay by Ken Paul Rosenthal
Educational and Public Library Streaming
Awards
- Grand Prize, Best Documentary Short
US Super 8 Film & Digital Video Festival
- First Place International Documentary Short
FICSAM Mental Health Int'l Film Festival
- Best of Fest
Human Dignity Film Festival
- Best Documentary Short
Mendocino Film Festival
- Best First Person Narrative
Scottish Mental Health Arts & Film Festival
- Best Documentary Short
Picture This Int’l Disability Film Festival
- Second Prize Documentary Short
Athens Int’l Film & Video Festival
- Best of Fest and Audience Choice Award
Szeged Super 8 Film Festival
- Best Short, Spirit Award
Artivist Film Festival
- First Prize
Art With Impact Mental Health Film Competition
- Award of Merit
University Film & Video Association
- Silver Chris Award
Columbus International Film + Video Festival
- Honorable Mention
Cinema Touching Disability Film Fest
- Voice Award
Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Admin.
- Award of Merit
Superfest International Disability Film Festival
- Creativity & Madness Outstanding Presentation
American Institute of Medical Education
- Audience Choice Award
Reel Recovery Film Festival
- Best Documentary for Environmental Madness
STEPS International Film Festival
Screenings
- Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, Hot Springs, AK
- Iowa City International Documentary Festival, Iowa City, IA
- Documentary Edge Film Festival, Auckland, New Zealand
- VideoEx Int'l Experimental Film & Video, Zurich, Switzerland
- Rendezvous With Madness Film Festival, Toronto, Canada
- Reframing Reality Int’l Disability Film Festival, Israel
- Reelabilities Film Festival, New York City
- UK Disability Film Festival, Shropshire, UK
- UNFIX Festival of Performance and Ecology, Scotland, UK
- Look and Roll Int'l Short Film Festival, Basel, Switzerland
- Mind On Screen Independent Film Festival, Foggia, Italy
- Fargo Film Festival, Fargo, ND
- Dallas Video Fest, Dallas, TX
- San Francisco Documentary Film Festival, SF, CA
- Crossroads Film Festival, San Francisco, CA
- International Berlin Director’s Lounge, Germany
- Experiments in Cinema Film Festival, Albuquerque, NM
- Cambridge International Super 8 Film Festival, England
- Big Muddy Film Festival, Carbondale, IL
- Hong Kong Social Movement Film Festival
- Shining Light Film Festival, Indianapolis, IN
- Building Change Film Festival, Pittsburgh, PA
- Wide Angle Media Festival, Vancouver, Canada
- Rooftop Films Summer Series, New York City
- Fastnet Short Film Festival, West Cork, Ireland
- Canton Palace Theatre Int'l Film Festival, Canton, OH
Endorsements
“Crooked Beauty is a groundbreaking documentary that offers new language for how we conceptualize and discuss the culture, power and politics of psychological suffering.”
– Heather Macdonald, Psy.D., Assistant Professor of Psychology, Lesley University
“Crooked Beauty conveys a hopeful message about personal resilience and the capacity for the human spirit to endure.”
– Wayne Assing, Director Student Development & Counseling Services, Rhode Island School of Design
“Crooked Beauty offers fresh methods for conceptualizing and representing “madness”, illustrating how viewers may effect change in pursuit of larger social transformations. It is a complex film that invites discussion from a variety of audiences, from beginning students of the mind to anyone who struggles against institutions of power and knowledge.”
– Michelle Glaros, PhD, R. Z. Biedenharn Chair of Communication, Centenary College of Louisiana
“Crooked Beauty is a magisterial piece of art cinema on every level. The counterpoint between the stream of ravishing images and the thought-stream of the monologue is achingly poignant. There’s a serene urgency here, a longing for stability in an evanescent world of light and fog.”
– Gene Youngblood, Media Theorist and Author, Expanded Cinema
“Crooked Beauty offers a unique window through which to deepen our understanding of bipolar disorder and provides an excellent catalyst for dialogue amongst students in a variety of health disciplines. This film pushes us to consider how societal constructions of mental illness might impact upon expressions of creativity, spirituality, self-identity and, potentially, treatment engagement.”
– Erin Michalak, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia
“Crooked Beauty is that rare breed of film that is both a socially relevant documentary while at the same time a work of artistic beauty. The combination is breathtaking and inspiring. A great tool for both documentary classes as well as experimental film classes.”
– Jay Rosenblatt, Filmmaker, Human Remains and King of the Jews
“Crooked Beauty provides a soulful and thought-provoking springboard for classroom discussions, challenging art and psychology students alike to creatively expand their understanding of the complex messages about mental health in today’s society, and the ways we all navigate the dark and light in our lives.”
– Paige Greason, PhD, Clinical Director, Counseling Services, University of North Carolina
“Mesmerizing . . . In Crooked Beauty, Ken Paul Rosenthal has created a work of art that has the transformative powers of a great poem. Jacks McNamara’s descriptions of the landscapes of her mind are extraordinary, and the images in this film are hauntingly beautiful. This inspiring movie will lead you to think anew about what it may be like to experience ‘madness’, and the best pathways to recovery.”
– Robert Whitaker, Author, Anatomy of an Epidemic and Mad in America
“This film seduces with poetic beauty and challenges with incisive commentary to profoundly reshape our understanding of bipolar disorder as well as the very concept of mental illness. It is a great example of how the art documentary can speak to real issues in a timely way.”
– Bill Nichols, PhD, Documentary Theorist and Author
Representing Reality, Issues and Concepts in Documentary and Introduction to Documentary
“Crooked Beauty is a mesmerizing jewel. Exquisite camerawork, editing and sound make for an enthralling, sophisticated, and deeply moving film that treats madness as a serious social issue.”
– Sam Green, Filmmaker, The Weather Underground
“A deeply provocative work of art. Visually stunning, emotionally nuanced and socially enlightening, Crooked Beauty is extremely valuable for teaching museum educators and staff about mental health issues, and an equally valuable tool for art students wishing to channel their creativity towards important social concerns.”
– Georgia Krantz, Education Manager, Sackler Center for Arts Education at the Guggenheim Museum
“A discussion starter for psychiatric residents in every medical school in the country, every school of social work, and all community mental health centers. The tremendous hope that is absorbed from this documentary will change the viewers’ understanding of symptom as a cause for concern to a cause of strength of character.”
– Margaret J. Park, M.Div, Center for Public Service Psychiatry
Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School
“Stunning visuals, incisive narration, and a resonant soundtrack combine in Crooked Beauty to convey a deeply personal, humane message that directly confronts reductive psychiatry and dehumanizing mental health systems. A must-see experience for anyone entrusted to provide mental health care to other people and all who care about relieving mental anguish and distress.”
– Joe Behen, PhD, Director, Counseling, Health & Disability Services, School of the Art Institute of Chicago