Friends, I am sorry to say after last night’s victory, I have a little piece of unpleasant news.
Apparently the version of The Healer and the Psychiatrist we’ve had in the fest was missing its English subtitles, which are essential for most people as most of the film is in Tongan.
I feel embarrassed and guilty that it has taken this long for the error to come to my attention. A handful of people have ordered tickets to the film, and I will follow up with them letting them know the problem has been fixed.
Dr. Mike Poltorak’s documentary is a fascinating study of different views of treating mental illness. He did a great interview on the site, but his quest to study traditional healing came about after he was cured by alternative medicine. He develops a close relationship with Tongan people and their culture as he captures the first-hand experiences of a healer using techniques passed down through generations to treat spiritual affliction as well as a psychiatrist who uses his own unique methods to diagnose mental illness by spending time with his patients in natural settings and observing their behavior. Mike contends that the healer and psychiatrist both play important roles in the mental and physical health of their communities and could learn a lot from each other about diagnosis and treatment.
Due to this error I will also leave The Healer and the Psychiatrist up for another week, until the evening of November 5 at 7:00 p.m., so that everyone who would like to see it gets a chance to. Everything else will still expire Monday evening, November 1st, at 7 p.m.I again deeply apologize for this error and hope that now people get to see this fantastic film!
Mental Filmness 