Film about male mental health will premiere in Bristol

The facts don’t lie – the biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK is suicide. Meeting with Ben Akers, 43, director of a new mental health documentary focussing on male suicide, he says: “The thing most likely to kill me is me. Why is that happening?”

That’s the starting point for the film. The documentary is about male mental health and depression, inspired by the loss of his childhood friend from suicide.

“I was trying to deal with the loss of Steve, I didn’t mean to make a 106 minute-long documentary,” says Ben, “but there’s a grassroots need for it. Journalists (like Professor Green, who recently made Suicide and Me with the BBC) that are making films about male mental health just reflect society, but I want to change society.” For Ben, the film is about mental health action, not just awareness.

Ben Akers, director of ‘Steve’ hopes to increase mental health action through the film

Steve is a culmination over 18 months of work by Ben and his Bristol-based team. After losing his best friend, Ben set up a Kickstarter to fund the project and started interviewing men about their mental health. He started by speaking to Steve’s family, and people started suggesting others to speak to on the subject. By the end of filming, Ben had interviewed over 35 different people.

Although the documentary was inspired by the loss of Steve and his story weaves and threads throughout the film, Ben says “it’s actually about stopping the next Steve.”

Describing the film as “confronting and positive”, Steve is ultimately a story of friendship, hope and being able “to put up your hand and say ‘actually, I’m suffering’.”

The documentary hopes to encourage men to take care of their mental health and shine a light on a complicated group of people. Middle class and working-class men, especially those who are heterosexual, white and have good jobs and families, are shown to have it all, but Ben is keen to highlight that “mental illness doesn’t discriminate.”

The film premieres at St. Georges Bristol on Thursday, March 21, before touring pubs across the UK.

It’s an interesting choice of venue: “Well, when I started out on this project, I researched what men aged 35 to 45 watch. They watch sport and documentaries. Then I thought, where do they go to watch these programmes, especially with their mates?

“They go down the pub, don’t they? We’re going where the men are.”

Getting men talking about their mental health after watching the film is just the first step for Ben. He is also launching The Talk Club, inspired by CALM and Andy’s Man Club, as a way of getting male friends to talk more openly about their mental state. Describing it as “a decentralised, talking group for men. All men have their mates around them, but they’ve never been given a chance to open up.”

At each of the pubs showing Steve, flyers will be available for men to pick up, with guidelines on how to set up their own Talk Club. “There’s information all over, it makes a folded pamphlet. You know what men are like, they’ll pick one up and immediately fold it into their pocket. That’s why we’ve actually designed for it to be folded.”

The Talk Clubs are about prevention, and Ben highlights that they aren’t a form of counselling, but the clubs aim to get men talking to each other. On his goals for the film and clubs, Ben hopes that: “when men watch the documentary down the pub, it creates a conversation, where they can say ‘I feel like that sometimes too’, and gets them starting their own Talk Club.”

Buy tickets to the premiere on Thursday, March 21 at www.stgeorgesbristol.co.uk/event/steve-a-film-premiere

Read more: Bristol filmmaker’s groundbreaking documentary about male mental health