UNLIKELY COLLABORATORS
(November 12, 2024 - Los Angeles, CA) – Unlikely Collaborators and documentary filmmaker/mindfulness educator Julie Bayer Salzman of Wavecrest Films announce a short film series that educates and supports the mental and emotional health of people worldwide. The series called Mindful Shorts aims to help people navigate the very difficult task of being human. Wavecrest Films has already produced four of the six films planned, all of which are available online for free, and Unlikely Collaborators has provided the filmmaker a second grant of $25K to finish the series (an initial grant was awarded in 2022).
The first film of the series, “Just Breathe” addresses Anger for elementary school kids; “Release” the second focuses on Anxiety for middle schoolers; the third, “Into Light,” deals with Depression for teens; and the fourth film, “A Good Day”, is about Addiction and middle-aged people. Bayer Salzman is currently in production on the next Mindful Short which focuses on Grief &Loss, for older people, using the traditional Japanese art of Kintsugi as a metaphor for putting broken lives back together again. The final film in the installment will deal with Trauma for young adults. All the films demonstrate how a mindfulness practice can be extremely beneficial throughout life. Each film has been translated into several languages, and while each was made with a particular age group in mind, Salzman says they have been positively received by and found relevant to viewers of all ages.
Unlikely Collaborators is a mission-driven non-profit organization committed to transforming the narratives that limit individuals, communities, and societies. The organization fosters profound self-awareness and mutual understanding by empowering people to gain insight into and agency over their PerceptionBox™—a concept developed by founder Elizabeth R. Koch. Perception Box represents the internal collection of beliefs, experiences, and biases that shape how individuals perceive the world and engage with others. Through its initiatives, Unlikely Collaborators seeks to inspire meaningful change by helping people untangle the stories that hold them back, clearing the way for greater self-acceptance and connection.
“Short films can be such effective tools both in the classroom and at home, and making them available online for free enables us to reach larger numbers of people around the world,” says Bayer Salzman. “Each film is designed to be a unique, visceral experience, bringing Mindfulness to the viewer in an experiential and artful way.”
“Julie’s short films are not only beautiful, well-crafted stories that resonate on a very deep level,” says Koch, “they actively help us reshape our narratives and offer new ways of viewing ourselves and others. This is core Perception Box work. We’re absolutely thrilled to be involved.”
Filmmaker and Mindfulness Educator Bayer Salzman believes emotional intelligence is the key to calming the chaos of the 21st century. She also maintains that mental health and environmental health are inextricably linked, so if we truly want to mitigate the effects of climate change, for example, we have to first start by cultivating awareness within. Films from the Mindful Shorts series can be found online via YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, and Instagram.
To learn more about the filmmaker and the Mindful Shorts series, check out https://wavecrestfilms.com/#mindful-shorts, and for more information about Unlikely Collaborators, please visit https://www.unlikelycollaborators.com/.
