Acclaimed poet and mental health campaigner Hussain Manawer has released Lonely – a powerful poetic short film aimed to normalise the stigma around asking for help to overcome loneliness.
Hussain has regularly spoken out about mental health struggles online and through his art and poetry and has been involved in a number of high profile projects, including soundtracking Lily’s death episode in Hollyoaks’ self harm storyline.
He became first poet in history to open Soccer Aid for Unicef at Stamford Bridge live on ITV and the first to open the FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium in 2020.
Lonely is Hussain’s first release of 2021 and comes following the release of ‘Reflections’ – a emotive poem on Archwell Audio for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
It shows three male characters open up separately about the crushing loneliness they feel but in the form of one singular poem and also features child actors portraying their youngser selfs.
In the midst of the pandemic, and a subsequent increase in pressure on people’s lives, cases of mental health in the UK have risen dramatically and left many people venerable to depression and loneliness.
With mental health costing the NHS nearly £119 billion every year, the film ‘Lonely’ looks at taking proactive steps to getting the help needed while holding a mirror back to society.
Hussain told Metro.co.uk: At times people may think that they are the only person experiencing an issue, when really there are hundreds, even thousands of people experiencing exactly the same thing. But we get so caught up in our lives, that we forget to check up on each other.
‘Over 75% of suicides are carried out by men, therefore addressing the topic from a male perspective will hopefully open up important conversations.
‘Speaking about feelings of loneliness, the film focusses on starting the conversation on mental health issues with family, friends or trusted people.’
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