Chithra Pream Raju

A monthly film series promoting professional and community education on issues pertaining to mental health and illness. Presented by The Cinematheque and the Institute of Mental Health, UBC Department of Psychiatry. Screenings are generally held on the third Wednesday of each month at The Cinematheque, 1131 Howe St, Vancouver, BC.

Witches

United Kingdom 2024 (90 min. DCP)
Writer-Director: Elizabeth Sankey
Wednesday, March 19, 2025 @ 7:00pm
The Cinematheque (1131 Howe St)

Film Description

“This deeply personal, essayistic film by Elizabeth Sankey impressively manages to be very moving but never mawkish, raw but also surgically precise.” – Leslie Felperin, The Guardian

Grounded in her own story of being admitted to a psychiatric ward within a month of giving birth to her son, Witches writer-director Elizabeth Sankey shares her deeply personal experience of postpartum depression: ​“I need you to know how it feels to lose your mind completely. I want you to see what I saw; feel what I felt. While I survived, far too many have not.” With clever and unflinching prose, Sankey’s narration weaves her own story with astute pop-culture analysis of the cultural myths and symbolism surrounding witches, illustrating the terrifying and often misunderstood reality of postpartum depression, maternal OCD, and psychosis. Clips from films such as Häxan (1922), Rosemary’s Baby (1968), The Witches of Eastwick (1987), and The Witch (2015) are intercut alongside interviews with medical professionals, academics, and mothers with lived experience of postpartum illnesses to illuminate the stigma surrounding maternal mental health and emphasize the importance of solidarity and peer support.

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“Leaves you wowed, wounded, and also—most importantly—educated on a subject about which very little is known.” – David Jenkins, Little White Lies

Post-screening Discussion:

Post-screening discussion with Dr. Deirdre Ryan, clinical associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UBC.

Moderated by Dr. Harry Karlinsky, the Series Director of Frames of Mind and a Clinical Professor in the UBC Department of Psychiatry.

Want to be a regular at Frames of Mind screenings on the third Wednesday of every month? Subscribe to the email list and be the first in line for tickets!

All Department members across the province are invited to attend the UBC Department of Psychiatry Grand Rounds. The next session will be held Tuesday, March 4, 2025 at 8:30 am on Zoom. The session, An update from the Chief Scientific Advisor for Psychiatry, Toxic Drugs, and Concurrent Disorders: the transformation of BC system of care for MHSU, is presented by Dr. Daniel Vigo, Associate Professor with the Department and Chief Scientific Advisor for Psychiatry, Toxic Drugs, and Concurrent Disorders with the province of BC.

A single registration link is available for all 2025 Grand Rounds:

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

For additional information regarding the monthly UBC Department of Psychiatry Grand Rounds please contact Kevin Elsaputra at kevin.elsaputra@vch.ca.

Add the 2025 Grand Rounds events to your calendar: Download calendar

1. Click the “Download calendar” link above
2. For Outlook users: Simply double-click the downloaded file to add the events. *Please note, the events may open as a new calendar -simply drag or copy them to your preferred calendar
3. For other calendar apps: Open the file with your preferred calendar application

The VCH/PHC Regional Psychiatry Grand Rounds are now the UBC Department of Psychiatry Grand Rounds and are accessible via Zoom to all Department members across the province. Grand Rounds are held the first Tuesday of every month (unless otherwise stated), from 8:30 am to 9:30 am.

The Grand Rounds are a self-approved group learning activity (Section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification program of The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

Congratulations to UBC Department of Psychiatry Professor and Associate Head, Dr. Sophia Frangou, who has been awarded the European Psychiatric Association’s (EPA) Constance Pascal – Helen Boyle Prize for 2025. The €10,000 prize recognizes the Outstanding Achievement by a Woman in Working to Improve Mental Health Care in Europe.

Dr. Frangou’s research uses advanced neuroimaging and bioinformatics methods to study brain-behaviour relationships and how they are influenced by genetic and environmental factors. Her work has greatly advanced the understanding of the pathophysiology of mood and psychotic disorders and made groundbreaking contributions to the characterization of brain mechanisms of “resilience”.

Join us in congratulating Dr. Frangou on this well-deserved award, which recognizes her exceptional contribution towards better mental health care in Europe.

**Shared on behalf of Dr. Jehannine (J9) Austin, Professor, UBC Department of Psychiatry, Head, UBC Department of Medical Genetics**

If you are a psychiatrist practicing or in training in British Columbia, we want your insight on how genetic testing for antidepressant prescription could be delivered to patients.

Fill out this brief questionnaire to express your interest in participating in the study, Healthcare professional focus groups to develop implementation strategies for pharmacogenomic testing for depression.

This study is funded by Genome British Columbia (BC) and will help us understand how pharmacogenomic testing (i.e., genetic testing that can provide information on how an individual may respond to certain medications) for depression can be effectively implemented in BC.

Sincerely,

Dr. Jehannine (J9) Austin
Professor, UBC Department of Psychiatry
Head, UBC Department of Medical Genetics

We respectfully acknowledge the land on which we live, work and play is the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples, the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-waututh).