About

These five films form a series produced by Artangel entitled The Directors, a collaboration between artist Marcus Coates and five individuals with lived experience of psychosis. 

Positioned behind the camera, each of them directs Coates in a filmed restaging of particular episodes from their lives.

Coates' research for The Directors began in 2017 at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, where he worked alongside psychiatrist Dr Isabel Valli. The focus of his research considered the dynamics of understanding and empathy.

Following several years of further development, five individuals in recovery were invited to choose a location of personal significance where they directed Coates embodying and performing their own experiences to camera.

In 2022, the resulting short films were each screened across five different locations in Pimlico, London, in and around the Churchill Gardens Estate. Following this inaugural presentation, the films continue to be regularly screened, discussed, used as a resource and training tool.