the Shadow pandemic
24 mins
2021
English Canada
The Shadow Pandemic is a desktop documentary exploring loneliness and its interventions during the global pandemic. Through conversations with artists and healthcare professionals, the film will explore why loneliness is prevalent especially now. It also explores the strategy of ‘social prescribing’, a plan which started in the UK and is currently practiced in Ontario to help the growing number of people who are experiencing extreme loneliness. How will this strategy make an impact? Can technology facilitate the authentic human connection that people desire? How can creative practice play a role to connect the larger community? These are some of the questions that will be explored in the film as we move towards a holistic, non-clinical strategy to tackling loneliness.
Trailer
Photos
Lara – Film Screen Grab 1 – Lara Harb
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Artist’s Statement
Loneliness is a universal feeling that all individuals have experienced at some point in their life. During the pandemic, feelings of loneliness have come across for me which sparked my curiosity of why we feel lonely. Though loneliness is a complex topic that manifests differently among the individual, the feeling is universal. This project is partly cathartic for me and extremely relevant given the times. Why not research loneliness during a lonely time?