We’re All In This Together is a feature film about three sisters who struggle to find a way to work together when their mother’s long tenuous mental health takes her over a waterfall in a barrel. The sisters are each plagued by their own demons – their own insecurities, addictions, traumas, mental health woes, and issues with each other – but it’s only when they learn to speak directly to each other, see the hurt in each other, acknowledge the pain that their mother’s mental illness has had on them all that they’re actually able to help her and themselves. We’re All in this Together is as moving as you’d expect from that description, and also surprisingly funny. Most importantly, it deftly and directly addresses the impact that relationships can have on our mental health, and shows what can happen when we don’t talk about mental illness within our families.

We’re All In This Together was brought to the screen by Katie Boland. Katie is an actor, a writer, and a director. She wore all three hats on We’re All In This Together – four hats if you consider that she played two characters in the feature film, which she adapted from Amy Jones’ novel of the same name and which marks her feature film directorial debut.

In this special episode of the YVR Screen Scene Podcast – the latest in our series of episodes about mental health and mental illness – Katie talks about her journey with mental illness and We’re All In This Together, and the ways in which cinema can help us navigate mental illness in the real world. Episode sponsor: Fish Flight Entertainment