Mental Roots

In February 2020, in the final year of his BA Animation degree, Nathan was selected by Rural Media's New Creatives Midlands program for the exciting opportunity to help create, fund and distribute the Mental Roots film. In addition to Director, he was also Writer, Voiceover artist/poet and Colouring Animator.

Mental Roots places you in the shoes of a first-generation black Brit who embodies the common fears and stigmas of mental health issues among young black men.At a local youth meeting, he starts to wonder: what led to his mental breaking point? Is he already beyond help? Coming from a context where many young people like him live as shells of themselves, are his true emotions worth trusting?Mental Roots offers a challenging proposition: maybe we should see vulnerability as part of the cure, rather than the disease...

Credits

Nathan Addai – Director, Writer, Lead Animator, Voiceover artist
Anna Campbell – Producer
Sipho Ndlovu – spoken word mentor, background vocal actor
Michelle Brand – sketch animator
Hashim Diriye – Clean up/ Colouring animator
Jesse Francis – Music composition
Chris Reed – Sound Design
Callum Edwards-Manning – background vocal actor

Impact

"The Animation work is an excellent medium to facilitate the (workshop) conversations.

One of the pupils commented on how they felt ‘seen’ and ‘heard’ by the content of the animation. Someone really understood what they were going through."

Karen Lamb

Safeguarding Officer and Mental Health Lead

The Bemrose School, Derby, UK