Mental health movie on Indieflix about a woman’s struggle to cope with her estranged mother’s suicide will help people ‘make active changes for the better’, director says
- ‘Daffodil’, an 18-minute short film from Hong Kong director Nicola Fan, picked up several awards following its 2020 release
- Want to know how to reach out to someone in need? A mental health expert gives tips
Indieflix, a global streaming platform for social-impact films, recently added Hong Kong director Nicola Fan’s Daffodil to its collection, making the 18-minute short film – an exploration of a young woman’s internal struggle as she comes to terms with the suicide of her estranged mother – available to a much wider audience.
“It’s a story of how loss forces us to realise what we have, retune our mindset and thinking, and make active changes for the better,” Fan, 32, says.
Covid-19 restrictions stopped the many scheduled public screenings but viewers can now watch it online (sign up to Indieflix’s seven-day free trial to watch it for free).
In Daffodil, the central character, Mia, grows up learning to work around and adapt to her mother’s often turbulent behaviour without understanding the mental health issues that are causing it. We then see how that childhood informs her adult self. The story is loosely based on a close friend of Fan’s whose mother committed suicide when they were university students. In the aftermath of the tragedy, her friend became reclusive and didn’t talk to his family.
“In Asia, especially my parents’ generation, we often don’t talk about mental health,” Fan says. “For my parents’ generation, it’s all about surviving the day-to-day – they don’t have time to think about whether they are happy, or whether life is meaningful. In my generation, it’s more about opening up and sharing stories and experiences, which means you are not alone.”