New York, NY (PRWEB) November 03, 2013
If OCD was an American city, it would be the second most populated city in the country. Health officials believe there are 4 million adults and children in the U.S. living with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Now a new short film, Contamination, is putting a face on the often-misunderstood anxiety disorder.
“I had an idea about this character for a long time, a woman who was struggling with severe germaphobia which resulted in her having OCD,” said the film’s director, R. Shanea Williams. “Soon the voice for this character became louder and louder and I created a story around her. I felt it’d work as a short film due to it being a contained environment.”
Actress Cherise Boothe plays the lead actress, Jade. The Obie Award winner, who was featured in the film 42 and the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Ruined, explained why she felt compelled to participate in the project. “Jade’s life circumstances have her battling with a condition by which she feels completely overwhelmed and controlled. Her condition was one I knew little about and wondered how someone gets to the place where we find her in the film,” said Boothe. “The journey of getting inside Jade’s character, experiencing the world from her perspective, was an intriguing, challenging and daunting endeavor, three great draws for any artist.”
Williams said she wanted to give a voice to people we do not often see struggling with OCD. “If people are going to learn something from this film, it is that mental health issues are universal and affect people of all races, ages, and backgrounds.”
Contamination will make the rounds at several film festivals next year.
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About the director:
R. Shanea Williams is a native of Richmond, Virginia and currently lives in Queens, New York. She graduated from the University of Virginia in 2003 with a BA in English and received her MFA in dramatic writing (with a concentration in screenwriting) from New York University in 2008. Williams was a quarterfinalist in the 2007 Slamdance Screenwriting Competition, and in 2011, she was a top 5 screenplay finalist in the Urbanworld Film Festival Screenwriting Competition. Contamination is her second short film.
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