What do you get when 2 artists meet in an asylum and are tested by time, trust, faith and the power of creativity?
MAD LOVE
This documentary about Issa Ibrahim and Susan Spangenberg tells a true story of art and romance in and out of the asylum.
Issa Ibrahim finds meaning and purpose as an artist, musician, writer, activist and 20 year artist-in-residence at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center’s Living Museum. Author of the memoir The Hospital Always Wins, published by Chicago Review Press in 2016, Issa is also an award winning filmmaker for his autobiographical musical documentary Patient’s Rites, and has been featured on German Public Television, an HBO documentary, an Edward R. Murrow and Third Coast award winning NPR audio story as well as participating in numerous art and mental health exhibitions the world over.
Susan Spangenberg is a self-taught artist who started creating at the age of three. She cut her “outsider artist” teeth at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center’s renowned ‘Living Museum’ art rehabilitation program. Susan was in the vanguard of the “Girl, Interrupted” female asylum artist wave that has in the past 20 years become the new normal, and has maintained the raw essence of that genre imbued with a 21st-century sensibility. Susan is also a writer, filmmaker and actor who performs under the stage name Shyla Idris. Watch the exclusive Mental Filmness interview with Isaa & Susan here: https://mentalfilmness2021.eventive.org/interviews2021
Mad Love will screen in the features section of the virtual festival.
Mental Filmness 