Find me in the Reflection Room in this World Mental Health Day episode of Brunch with Noreen on RTHK Radio 3 where Noz and I are chatting Bipolar Hong Kong and I share a poem dedicated to all the companies all over the world that care about mental health on World Mental Health Day and not quite so much the other 364 days of the year…

The poem was one of a bunch I read at Mind HK‘s Poetry, Stories and Mental Health event at the 2024 Hong Kong Lit Fest in March. Please support mental health in the workplace every day! 💜

https://www.rthk.hk/radio/radio3/programme/brunchwithnoreen/episode/981058

Thanks to Mind HK and Mindset for creating an opportunity for Mind HK ambassadors to share our stories and photography at the ‘Here and Now’ exhibition at the 3812 Gallery in August! The exhibition connected our mental health recovery stories to our photographs of places in Hong Kong that inspired a turning point.

The event was a collaboration with lovely local artist Erin Hung (pictured below) whose collection of bold posters were inspired by our stories and highlight of the event! Look out for Erin’s posters on the MTR! Better still, take a snap and tag #MindHongKong and #MTAL (More Than A Label) on Insta to spread positive messages about mental health in Hong Kong! 🙏🏼

Thanks soooooo much to Mind HK’s Vicki T’Sang for making and sending me this reel of exhibition goers viewing my contribution to the exhibition! 🫶🏼 To read what they’re reading, click here!

Exhibition Goers pause to read my piece at the 3812 Gallery

https://www.mind.org.hk/ambassador-stories/sadie/hereandnow-the-c-word/

Issue 6 of The Apostrophe on the theme of ‘Excuses’ just dropped on Substack! The perk of being art editor for the HKWC’s quirky lit mag is not needing an excuse to connect with and showcase the talents of inspiring established and emerging visual artists! This edition features an ingenious scrabble poem cover by artist Rachel P Smith!

The theme for Issue 7 is ‘Action’. No more excuses – GO for it!

I am excited to be taking part in a Mind HK exhibition of stories and photographs by Mind HK ambassadors at the 3812 Gallery in Central 6-15 August 2024! The exhibition connects stories of mental health recovery to places that inspired turning points. The exhibition is a collaboration with local artist Erin Hung! If you’re sweating it out in the Hong Kong summer, please drop by! They have art and they have air con!

Other events I have taken part in for Mind HK include their 2024 HK Lit Fest event Poetry, Stories and Mental Health, Conversations of the Heart, The Healing Power of Words and an exhibition of letters and artwork at the Lyndhurst Gallery in SoHo.

Thanks to Variety for this nice piece about Sadie Frost joining our Contro Vento family as an executive producer on To Love A Narcissist, the history of Contro Vento since founder/director Raffaello Degruttola was BIFA-nominated for Flim, and where we boldly go next! I am proud to be producing this film with Raff and Bill Bossert. Thanks to reporter Naman Ramachandran for the much appreciated publicity and for explaining what Contro Vento means in Italian (we are full of wind).

https://variety.com/2024/film/global/sadie-frost-raffaello-degruttola-to-love-a-narcissist-1236028426

The last few months at Contro Vento Films have been a whirl! We wrapped shooting our latest feature film To Love A Narcissist in Lake Garda, Italy, produced a trailer and a first cut, and just launched our first Official Hoodies in collaboration with Tee Mill! Thanks to my gorgeous niece Mia for modelling one of our two hoodie designs!

Our certified organic cotton pullover hoodies are 100% sustainable, GM free, not tested on animals and do not contain any animal-derived products. We have two unique designs available in black – and hoodies are just the start! We’ve added TLAN tees, totes and baseball caps to our growing collection of movie merch! You can learn more about our friends at Tee Mill  and watch their inspiring TED talk here!

https://contro-vento-films.teemill.com

https://controventofilms.com/to-love-a-narcissist

https://controventofilms.com/merch

The latest trailer for the film I am producing with Raffaello Degruttola and Sadie Frost just dropped! Trust is weaponised in To Love A Narcissist, our first dramatic feature film since Transference went viral (24M+ views on YouTube). Filming wrapped in Lake Garda, Italy, last month and post-production is in full swing! (We just completed our first cut!) Stellar performances across the board by Lyndsey MarshalStephen Campbell MooreSule Rimi and Andrea Lowe

I am also thrilled to have joined the Contro Vento team alongside Raff and Bill Bossert!

https://controventofilms.com

https://toloveanarcissist.com

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt29964764

Pitch Deck

Thank you to the curators of TEDxLPCUWC Youth for inviting me to speak at their TEDx event at Li Po Chun United World College yesterday! The best thing about doing a TEDx is meeting and listening to the other speakers interpret the same theme in their own unique way. The theme for this one was A Fractal of Perspectives, which meant the first thing I had to do was google ‘fractal’ and the second thing I had to do was google ‘how to use fractal in a sentence’. (The speech kind of wrote itself from there.)

I’m so grateful to have had this experience that was inspiring, uplifting and often hilarious! Congratulations to the student organisers and volunteers who did such an incredible job, coping with technical difficulties, and thanks to the amazing audience! This included my pal Philippe who had travelled all the way from DB to remind me “Just remember to stand in the big red box!” Unfortunately, I have never managed to stay in the box my entire life – and this experience proved no exception.

Most of all, thanks to Joanna Jayalakshman Mohan for coming to the WiPS launch of Imprint 22 at the HK Lit Fest, which kickstarted my TEDx interlude, and for bringing it to a fitting conclusion with the following conversation:

Me: Hey, we should meet up for a drink some time!

Her: Sure, that would be great as soon as I turn 18!

Me: 😮

(If you want people to guess you’re underage, here’s a tip: don’t use words like ‘fractal’! 😂 I had just assumed they were young-looking PhD students…)

So, that’s how my first TEDx ended. Not with champagne but with the creeping realisation I had been caught corrupting a minor. 🤣🤣🤣

https://www.ted.com/tedx/events/56987

Thanks to the SCMP for publishing this piece in which I attempt to explain bipolar disorder in their Health & Wellness section today! Also for reminding me that I founded Bipolar Hong Kong in 2014. That is TEN YEARS AGO!!!! A DECADE of support groups in Starbucks without any of us having bought a coffee! 🤣

https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3253446/what-bipolar-disorder-types-symptoms-and-causes-condition-affecting-kanye-west-and-selena-gomez-and

It was the second chat I’ve had with journalist Anthea Rowan about bipolar and a pleasure reconnecting! Our first in 2021 can be found here.