James Bagyenzi's Created in the Image of God (Uganda, 2023) is presented in the Focus on Ability International Short Film Festival. Set around a hospital and a young adult's experience, it explores mental health, isolation and the stigma that can follow mental illness. The film considers how prejudice and stereotypes shape the way individuals and their siblings are treated, and how fear can sit beside care. Quiet and observant, it asks viewers to pause and rethink assumptions about people with disability. A humane, thoughtful short that gently urges empathy and a shift in how we see one another.
Four years ago I encountered a very strange thing. I woke up at a hospital in Italy And it was very, very frightening. It was sudden, it was very strange. Dear Maria, I have finally come to settle accounts. Why do things have to change? We were the only children in the family. I quickly followed you into this world, impatient to follow your instructions and guidance as you explored the world. Every day was an adventure, breathtaking adventure. Laughter, sometimes tears, but of the harmless type. We stood on the brink of self-discovery. We were so full of life. Could anything really stop us? Everything we knew and held dear to was about to be torn apart. And tossed to the far winds. One day, while at school, Mother came and visited me. She wore a cloak of sadness around her. At the bottom of my heart, I felt a deep sense of dread. Something has happened to Maria. I came face to face with what had happened to you three months later. Even then, you were heavily drugged, so the impact was not immediately clear to me. Then you had a relapse. In the blink of an eye, I lost my best friend. Myself, in that hospital, was like... It was the darkest moment in my life. I thought I had died and I was in hell. And, of course, I had all these questions, so many. I lost my faith in God. He was absent after all. Otherwise, He would never have let it happen. Something snapped. I stepped on the accelerator. Maybe if I drove too fast, I would slam a wall or fall off a cliff. Maybe it could all come to an end. It did come to a dead end, behind the prison gates. You were in an institution, and now so was I. I understood that the only way to our freedom was to face the demons tormenting me. And how better than through somebody who had lived it too. Daniel Sentamu was once admitted at Butabika Mental Referral Hospital. Society discriminates people with mental illness. I knew that even before. I was one of the people who considered mad people, people with mental issues either belittled or cast as something. Society held a lot of stigma. And the perfect example is the Local News Journal. People don't look at the TV. And you see how people with mental illness or psychosocial disability are being represented in the media. The words keep on coming up. Palalu, Katala, Zolo, you know. People looked. They looked at the news. People looked. They laughed. They did not understand. They did not want to be a part of it. I remained part of the people afraid to break free. Afraid to offer my hand. Because I would share in the ridicule. The fear that grips them. It seems a simple thing. But there is a lot of fear. Fear around mental illness. Family members are afraid. They feel ashamed. They start to feel ashamed. That is one thing. Then of course they also fear for the person who is sick. Because mental illness is also a dangerous illness. There are many dangers around it. Suicide. All these other things that come with it. I now know I was wrong. You needed my love, support and understanding. Not my absence. I just did not know where we fit after that. Dear Maria, I now know better. You are created in the image of God. And from today you can be sure that I will be by your side.
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Created in the Image of God by James Bagyenzi (2023)
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Created in the Image of God
by James Bagyenzi - INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARIES
