Producer Christine Hartland, who featured in issue 2.4, mailed earlier this week to say that the short film that she produced, SICK, has picked up two awards at the Canadian International Film Festival (Best Independent Film and Best Scenario), adding to an already-impressive collection of wins at various festivals around the world.

Mental health and its various manifestations have always been a subject beloved of storytellers, but it seems to me as though it has been knocked off the radar a wee bit in recent years in favour of ’sexier’ topics in festival line-ups.  In a world where it’s acceptable to discuss sexual mores at supermarket checkouts, mental illness is still a misunderstood and taboo subject, so it’s good to see it explored so openly.