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 * June 15, 2024
 * Film


A JOURNEY INTO THE STATE OF AFRICAN MENTAL HEALTH IN “BLACK PEOPLE DON’T GET
DEPRESSED”




By Mamelodi Marakalala 





Sara Chitambo-Hatira leans towards telling authentic and compelling stories in
her career as a film director and producer. She received a Master of Arts in
Digital Documentary Production from Sussex University in the United Kingdom. She
is also licensed in Media and Communications through the Gordon Institute of
Business Science’s Online Masterclass. 





Before shifting to filmmaking, Chitambo-Hatira starred as Nina in a Namibian
short film called Beef (2007). Films she has directed include The Capacity of
Cap City (2017), a short documentary that delves into the times and trials of
Pretoria’s hip-hop scene, and Cecilia’s Escape (2019), a short coming-of-age
film that follows the story of 16-year-old Cecilia and her Congolese family
living in Yeoville, Johannesburg, as they navigate life after her father’s death
and as she becomes her own person in the world. 





Black People Don’t Get Depressed (2024) is Sara Chitambo-Hatira’s feature-length
directorial debut journeying into mental health in Africa, with a particular
focus on depression and the perceptions of depression on the African continent.
Her approach to making this film sparks a parallel with the image of someone
meandering through a dark walkway with a beam of light at the end that seems to
promise a sense of healing. As the narration goes, “And so I continue to do the
work; re-parenting my inner child, putting the pieces of my broken and neglected
self back together.” 





Chitambo-Hatira created this documentary at a moment when it became intolerable
to avoid or deny her struggles with depression. In facing her antagonistic mind,
Chitambo-Hatira invited other Africans to join this personal expedition. The
film tackles gripping questions about what depression is and how it presents
itself in people’s lives with much sensibility and openness. 

 

The individuals featured in the documentary cite the hold of depression on the
mind, its inescapability, thoughts of suicide, the outbursts and exertion that
it comes with, the reality of medication or institutionalisation, and the
devastation that follows the afflicted and befalls the afflicted’s loved ones.
The film unfolds through multiple recollections and stories told from first-hand
perspectives, which makes it an educational experience for the audience. It is
also poetic and dramatic, which makes it transportive and enables the viewer’s
empathy. 

 

One of the most important elements, if not the most important element, of the
film is exploring depression and mental health in the context of African
indigenous and diasporic communities. The title of Black People Don’t Get
Depressed is reflective of the denial and disregard many Africans have towards
mental illness when it is affecting their own. Words such as “black people don’t
get depressed” cut through the societal landscape of our townships and villages
because they are said very often, and they can also reverberate in the minds of
those grappling with depression. 

 

The film also explores the spectrum of fallacies and stigmatisation, both in the
characters’ personal histories and in collective domains, that surround the
reasons mental illnesses such as depression go unnoticed, unacknowledged, or
easily dismissed in African communities. This also invites the audience to
revert to their previous, perhaps overlooked, encounters with such unmitigated
truths. 

 

Depression, especially because it is a mood disorder, is sometimes dismissed as
a fleeting reactionary emotion and likened to stress. Those who are depressed
are often judged as lacking willpower in life or as not having any control over
their own emotions, and they are advised to stomach their condition or to engage
in activities generally known to create sparks of positive emotions. 



On the other side of this coin are the cultural and spiritual beliefs that many
Africans hold, that firmly offer Africa-centralised, traditionally-rigid
interpretations of what people with depression are going through and what they
need. Most of the time, as also inferred by the title, it is considered a
problem only white people can have due to the systematic design of institutions
and knowledge production in the larger psychology/psychiatry disciplines. These
various constituents are unearthed through the different narratives and visual
storytelling of the film. 

 

What Chitambo-Hatira has in common with the people she engaged in the
documentary is that they are all creatives. As such, the film can serve as a
foundation for the discourse around depression and mental health within the arts
and cultural landscape. In my experience visiting art studios around
Johannesburg, I have encountered a fair share of Black artists whose art
practices serve as their path to healing from depression. Their art-making
process becomes the therapeutic intervention they desperately need, they explore
themes of mental illness or portray subjects in states of psychological
affliction to make sense of their condition. 

 

Black People Don’t Get Depressed is especially important in our current social
panorama, where many Black people are progressively turning inward to explore
and build healthier relationships with themselves. It is also significant given
the scarcity of consideration for the mental wellness of Black people within and
beyond their streams of creativity, vocations, and other various modes of being
in society. The film is for those seeking personalised and relatable narratives
on the everyday experiences of living with or seeing mental illness, and those
who wish to walk along the journey that the characters in the film continue to
walk to regain wellness and normalcy. It is also a way for people to revisit
their own beliefs on the subject. 

 

Black People Don’t Get Depressed is featured in the ENCOUNTERS 26th South
African International Documentary Festival, which takes place from 20 – 30 June
2024 at cinemas in Johannesburg and Cape Town. More details about the screenings
can be found here. 

 

______

 

Anyone who may be struggling with depression, anxiety, or any other form of
mental disorder can contact the South African Depression and Anxiety Group
(SADAG). With 24-hour and toll-free helplines, it is a good start to finding
support. 

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The IQOQO platform is driven by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture,
Wesgro, the City of Cape Town, the Gauteng Province of Economic Development,
eThekwini Municipality, the City of Joburg, the Eastern Cape Development
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Observatory, Friends of IFAS, Business France, Agence Française de Développement
(AFD), SER and SCAC. This project is funded by the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs/Ambassade de France, and made in collaboration with Breinstorm Brand
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