Norsk filminstitutt

Documentary film The Recovery Channel

News-anchor Randi Isaksen struggles to help her sister navigate a broken mental health system in The Recovery Channel, a film that blends documentary and narrative storytelling to expose an oppressive system designed to control not heal the human condition.  


Randi Isaksen, news-anchor at Recovery Channel, is confronted with the daunting realities of flawed mental health systems as she tries to navigate on behalf of her sister. In The Recovery Channel, filmmaker Ellen Ugelstad blends documentary and narrative storytelling to expose an oppressive system designed to control, not heal, the human condition. Informed by her own family experiences, Ugelstad breaks free from traditional documentary structure; explores the injustices faced by those with mental health challenges and exposes the use of coercion in contemporary therapy. Through a humanistic lens, she explores the negative impact of an oppressive system, while advocating for the recognition of mental health as a human right rather than an illness.  

Production and distribution

Production Year:
2023
Production country:
Norway
Release date (national):
2024-01-12
Production company:
Twentyone Pictures
Financing company:
Norwegian Film Institute
Fritt Ord Foundation
Producer:
Ellen Ugelstad
Tonje Alice Madsen
Film consultant:
Eirin Gjørv

Director

  • Ellen Ugelstad

    Ellen Ugelstad is a Norwegian filmmaker living in Oslo. She studied philosophy and anthropology at the University of Oslo before she moved to California and received a BFA in film. Her work often explores the thin line between sanity and insanity, the hierarchy of power, and explores different forms of reality.   

    Her debut, Indian Summer, is an example of this investigation. This film tells the story of her younger brother living with schizophrenia - a poetic portrait of a young man’s struggle for his own dignity and pursuit of freedom. Indian Summer was nominated for the International Young Talent Award at DOK Leipzig and the Nordic:Dox Award at CPH:DOX and received two nominations at the Norwegian “Emmy Award” (Gullruten.)   The short film “The Meeting Room” shows a kafkaesque meeting where a mother and her son fight a clogged bureaucracy. The film won Best Screenplay at the Norwegian Shortfilmfestival in 2017. 

    Her recent work includes the film essay Making Sense Together which investigates the relationship between power and powerlessness in psychiatry. The award-winning short film The Green Valley was longlisted for the Oscars. Ugelstad is also a recipient of a five-year work grant from the Norwegian Art Council.  

    Ellen Ugelstad

Awards

2023:
Nordic/Docs
Honorable Mention

Festivals

2023:
Oslo Pix
2023:
Nordic/Docs
2023:
Mirage - The Art of the Real
2023:
BIFF - Bergen International Film Festival
2024:
CPH:DOX

Crew

Director:
Ellen Ugelstad
Screenplay:
Einar Sverdrup
Ellen Ugelstad
Cinematographer:
Kristoffer Archetti

Technical information

Genre:
Hybrid
Drama
Format:
DCP 2k
Colour:
Colour
Length in min's:
80'
Language:
Norwegian
Subtitles:
English

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