Alison Sudol

Alison Sudol Instagram – Last night my dear @leithclark invited Hanna I to a special screening of @sankles jaw- droppingly powerful film, Witches. I went into it suspecting it might open some doors but I didn’t know how deeply it would hit me in the pit of my heart, ringing me like a bell till I shook in my seat. The courage it takes to make a film like this is mind-boggling. It explores maternal mental health in a way I have never seen. I wish I had seen it before I gave birth. Maybe I would have been more prepared for how completely and utterly shattered and out of my mind I felt in those first months of motherhood. Maybe I would have felt less crazy. And I was lucky. I made it through. So many women struggle silently, dragged into a terrible, private darkness. Broken sleep, raging hormones the life-altering, jarring transition into motherhood… even the immensity of the love is almost too much to bear. There is so much stigma around maternal mental-health, but this film leans into that so fiercely, so powerfully- what women have to hide, why, and what it costs. Watching it was painful but liberating. Too many women suffer and do not get help because they are afraid. And this has been happening for centuries. Women were persecuted for hundreds of years for this, or for trying to help their sisters, their neighbors. The healers, the midwives, the struggling mothers, labeled witches. Destroyed. Their stories are still with us, steeped in the silence, unsung, unable to be released while they remain hidden. This film gives those women a voice. It feels so deeply healing. Balm. A light in the darkness. Thank you @sankles for sharing your story. Watch it with your mothers, your sisters, your coven. @mubi @thevioletbook | Posted on 21/Nov/2024 04:52:53