Sag Harbor Cinema has launched its Lighthouse Project, a year-round film and discussion series that illuminates mental health awareness, advocacy and action. The series, which kicks off on Sunday, November 3, will be free and open to the public, and will offer equitable access to mental health information with expert-led panel discussions. Its goal is to demystify, to destigmatize, and to promote knowledge about mental disorders, and to disseminate information about their treatment using film as an entry point for discussion, noted a press release.
The Sunday event, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., will focus on adolescent mental health. Registration is required. It will include a screening of Florian Zeller’s film “The Son” (2022), starring Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern, at Sag Harbor Cinema. Attendees should note that the film features an adolescent in a mental health crisis, and has depictions of adolescent self-harm and suicidality.
After the film, there will be a panel discussion about the nature and manifestations of adolescent depression and suicidality, and the cross-cultural dynamics that many young people encounter in accessing mental health resources and treatment on the East End of Long Island. The featured panelists will be Dr. Daniel Knoepflmacher, vice chair of education in psychiatry and training director for the General Psychiatry Residency Program at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine, who holds an MFA in film production and had a prior career in the motion picture industry; Anastasia Gochnour, licensed clinical social worker, and program director at OLA of Eastern Long Island’s YouthConnect; and Angelica Ortiz, master of social work, program coordinator at OLA of Eastern Long Island’s YouthConnect. Sag Harbor Cinema Board Member Dr. Diana Diamond will moderate the discussion and the Q&A that follows.
Dr. Diamond, a psychoanalytic clinician, professor, and researcher with private practices in New York City and Sag Harbor, leads the Lighthouse Project, which is sponsored by the Florin Smith family. She is a senior fellow at the Personality Disorders Institute (PDI), an international research and clinical training center at the Weill Cornell Medical College. Diamond is also professor emerita in the doctoral program at the City University of New York; adjunct professor at New York University’s Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis; and on the faculty at the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. She has written and lectured internationally about film and psychology.
“There is not one person or family that hasn’t been touched by someone with a mental health concern,” says Diamond. “People come to me with many questions, but most often I hear: ‘How do I better understand what they’re going through? How can I help?’ Many times, a person and/or family struggling with mental health issues can feel isolated, and they don’t know where to turn. The Lighthouse Project is a critical initiative that uses the power of film to bring our community together to offer information and resources to the general public as well as those in immediate need, and to discuss questions about mental health in a safe space.”
“The Lighthouse Project speaks to important issues many in our community must manage, and we hope this new initiative will allow us to gather at the Cinema and offer support and resources for those seeking to learn more about specific mental health concerns,” says Genevieve Villaflor, Executive Director of Sag Harbor Cinema.
The Lighthouse Project was created by Bill Collage, Sag Harbor Cinema education chair, and is organized by Meghan McGinley, director of education at Sag Harbor Cinema.
Reserve a spot to attend at sagharborcinema.org.
Staff Writer on Oct 28, 2024