Debate on mental health in Cannes with ‘Black flies’

Mental health is at the center of “Black Flies” this Friday in Cannes, with Sean Penn and Tye Sheridan, which follows the daily life of two paramedics in New York and introduces the viewer to a vortex of violence and noise with intense realization and very present music.

“It’s been about 12 or 13 years since I’ve been interested in this topic,” Penn explained at a news conference in presentation of the film directed by Frenchman Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire, competing for Cannes Golden Palm.

For film preparation, both Penn as Sheridan worked with the service fires and emergencies from Los Angeles, which allowed them to learn first-hand about mental health issues in general, and those that affect these high-pressure professionals in particular.

“I became interested in him. job of all these people,” Penn said, noting that in official screening of the film which took place last night and in which the whole team participated, he could see “that the public appreciated the work we do and that it touches the human soul”.

The movie follow day after day these two professionals who work with firemen attention emergency services in violent New York neighborhoods, with victims who tend to be Hispanic, black, drug addicts, or gang members.

“It will be interesting to see how it goes community of this sector reacts to movie“, said Penn, for whom it is important that “Black Flies” put the issue of mental health at the center of the public debate because “90 percent of what we show in the film corresponds exactly” to reality.

And another one of the aspects that the actor pointed out movie which uses many documentary elements to bring even more realism to the story, is the fact that mental health professionals are “affected by a political game that prevents them from doing their work in better conditions”.

In this regard, the director pointed out that mental health “that’s the real problem” u NOW, especially for paramedics, “who face a lot of violence”. So much so that there are “a lot of suicides in this community because it is psychologically very difficult to work in the face of this terrible violence.”

“Sean and I were with professionals who were working full-time shifts 36 hours”pointed out Sheridan, who assured that he is passionate about his character and the different faces he portrays in the film.

And added that what interests him is “to work with filmmakers I like” and one of them is Sauvarie. “It’s me obsessed with his vision of things”.

The director also praised his the protagonists because they had to works a lotnot only to learn the script and assimilate its characters, but also from a physical point of view.

A story with a clear commitment to style documentary, so much so that he was one of the protagonists –Penn, Sheridan, Michael Pitt and Katherine Waterston– the rest of the cast were non-professional actors. Plus a collaboration with Mike Tyson.

“I’ve always done this mix fiction and documentary and what interested me in this work were people from New York (…) who captured the reality of life,” explained Sauvaire.