Mental health documentary shortlisted in media awards

A LOCAL filmmaker’s documentary about mental health has been shortlisted in this year’s Headline Mental Health Media Awards, which will take place in Dublin city on December 6.

Dean Kavanagh, 32, from Fettercairn in Tallaght submitted his film ‘In The Shadows’ for the awards, and was delighted when it made the shortlist.

The moving documentary tackles mental health and suicide, and features interviews with people such as Senator Lynn Ruane and Jean Haas from NINA for Life.

‘In The Shadows’ was created by Dean, who is a past pupil of St Mark’s Community School, after a member of his friend group was affected by suicide, and he decided to catalogue other people’s experiences.

The film, which is available on YouTube, has garnered a strong response from viewers, many of whom have reached out to Dean to share how it has impacted them.

“It was unbelievable, I didn’t expect the amount of people who reached out to me,” he told The Echo.

“Hundreds of people reached out to me.

“They said the documentary made them want to talk to people and open up.

“I had a mother who got in touch and said she watched it with her son and they had a conversation afterwards, and he told her he was self-harming.

“They went to get help for him, and he started going to counselling.”

The success of the documentary was especially surprising for Dean as it was created with “no money” and with the assistance of his classmates from TU Dublin Tallaght and some friends. “We made it with no money, but it got accepted for the awards,” said Dean, who is a media production graduate.

“To make something with a group of mates I graduated from college with and some friends . . . I couldn’t believe the reaction it got.”

Now Dean is firmly focused on the awards ceremony, which will take place in the Gibson Hotel on December 6, and which he will attend with one of his interviewees, Tallaght woman Jean Haas.

“Everyone is just so proud,” said Dean.

“I couldn’t have done it without the crew.

“A lot of the attention is coming on me because I edited it, but the amount of stuff people done, I couldn’t even put a price on what it was worth.”

This is not Dean’s first foray into documentary making, as in 2021 he created a documentary called ‘Starboy’ about his friend’s son, Kyle Hooper Finnegan.

Kyle died at age 12 in September 2018 after succumbing to an asthma attack, and Dean developed the documentary to raise awareness of asthma.

For his next project, which is currently in the early stages of development, Dean will chronicle the experiences of families with autistic children, provisionally titled ‘In The Shadows: Life on the Spectrum’.

Learn more about Headline HERE.