BEDLAM screening and filmmaker Q&A

Through intimate stories of patients, families, and medical providers, BEDLAM immerses us in America's crisis surrounding the care of people with severe mental illness. Filmed over five years, it brings us inside one of the nation's busiest psychiatric emergency rooms, into jails where psychiatric patients are warehoused, and into the homes and homeless encampments of mentally ill members of our communities. 

Tickets are not required. Please come early, as admission will be first-come, first-served. 

Co-writer and co-producer Peter Miller will present the film, take questions, and examine the role of storytelling in sparking change. An Emmy and Peabody Award-winning documentary maker who has worked on many of Ken Burns’ projects, Miller helped connect the personal stories in the film to the broader, catastrophic history of one of our nation's greatest social crises, crafting what The Hollywood Reporter described as “a damning indictment and a call to action – lucid, harrowing and urgent.” 

This film screening is part of Story House Ithaca's series on Breaking Our Silence: Storytelling for Mental Health.

BEDLAM was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival, winner of the 2021 duPont-Columbia Award, and aired on PBS.  

Prior to the screening, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Finger Lakes will honor the life of founding mother, Jean Walters. Jean passed away this April and has left a lasting legacy of compassion and support in our community.