Australian director and cinematographer Genevieve Bailey has reached into the heart of the country’s male-identifying population and unveiled their raw, complicated experiences with emotion and mental health in this new documentary. Bailey is known for her insightful human-centred films, like her 2011 breakthrough work I Am Eleven, which gave children around the world a new agency and voice on a myriad important subjects, and now she's tackling the multifaceted topics of mental health and masculinity.
Happy Sad Man is a character study of five Australian men who reveal their perspectives on sharing and truly feeling emotions, and their experiences with trauma and mental health. From the shores of Bondi to rural Victoria and beyond Australia’s borders into conflict zones, Bailey gets to know these men, who are photographers, outreach workers, farmers and artists, and asks what they want to tell the world about themselves. This gives the interview subjects a chance to lead the conversation towards the most impactful moments in their lives: from the highs and lows of depression, to feeling ostracised from society, and the weight of performing to meet modern expectations of being a ‘man’.
Bailey is a talented storyteller, and throughout this real-life emotional rollercoaster, audiences will laugh, cry and contemplate their own experiences and expectations. The 90-minute documentary first aired at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2018 and is now making the rounds of cinemas across the country. You can catch the disarming production and be part of Q&A sessions with the filmmakers in Sydney from November 6-20. It will be showing at Palace Norton Street Cinemas, Dendy Newtown, Chauvel Cinema and Golden Age Cinema.