Docfest ✹ May I be?

More and more young people are finding it difficult to find their place in society. They struggle with anxiety and dark thoughts, drop out of school, or barely have any energy left. Regisseur Frederike Migom (also maker of Everyone is called Sorry nowadays and Binti) spent two years in conversation with the young people of PAika, the psychiatric ward for children and young people of UZ Brussel. With their stories she wants to give these often invisible teenagers a voice in the debate on mental well-being. The new series May I be? can be seen on VRT Canvas from 30/11, in the run-up to De Warmste Week. It consists of three episodes, of which Docfest is showing the first two in a preview. First we see in May I (myself) be? how the young people gradually gain insight into the chaos in their heads. In Mag I (together) be? they learn to express their emotions through creative therapy and they go in search of connection and friendship. together with Filmpact, Maud Bekaert, Handmade in Brugge & Child and Youth Psychiatry AZ Sint-Lucas Brugge. --- thursday 19 november - 20h00 Cinema Lumière + Salongesprek Na the film, Mieke Dumont engages in conversation with i.a. Frederike Migom (director) and Bo Tuts (drama therapist at PAika) about the well-being crisis among young people, the hopeless waiting lists, and the power of creative therapy. --- + Het Stadsatelier Letterbeeldhouwer Maud Bekaert dreams of an urban studio where professional craftsmen and psychologically vulnerable young people meet each other. A safe place where young people work and learn together, and where at the same time a new generation of craftsmen can grow. Filmpact and Docfest are helping Maud to test that dream on a small scale. For an afternoon, five makers from the network of Handmade in Brugge open their studio to two young people from the Child and Youth Psychiatry AZ Sint-Lucas. They roll up their sleeves together, learn from each other, and build a bond of trust. Het Stadsatelier is not accessible to the public.