On Friday, April 25, the Department of Theatre and Dance and Orchesis Dance Company will host Fredonia alumna Kate Martelle.
She and her creative partner, Nick Davis, will offer three consecutive screenings of their short film, 鈥淵ou Are Not Alone,鈥 winner of the Best Dance Short Film award at the 2023 Cannes World Film Festival. They will be joined by dancer Rylie Kick.
Screenings will be at 1, 2 and 3 p.m., followed by Q&A, in the Rockefeller Arts Center Studio Complex's Costello Community Room.
Ms. Martelle explained, 鈥淭he film is about how lonely and isolating mental health issues can make you feel. Your brain lies to you and makes you feel like no one else in the world is like this and no one understands and never will. It鈥檚 based on my own struggles with OCD and depression. I felt so alone and scared for a long time. I felt like no one would ever understand.
There鈥檚 always been such a stigma attached to mental health struggles so people rarely talk about it and that鈥檚 caused more harm than good. It鈥檚 the really dark lonely times that lead to darker issues. And as much as there has been more conversations about it, there鈥檚 still a stigma attached. Even as I鈥檓 writing this I paused for a second before writing my diagnosis. We need this to change in the world. People need to be seen so they can help each other.鈥
The campus community is invited to attend.
