If someone says: “a guitar is an instrument”, they are correct accordingly to everyone, right? But what if instead of someone tells you that a guitar is just an instrument?

Obvious both you and I have seen a guitar, or some variation of it; but I tried to connect with the guitar presented in A Song of the Anxious not as an instrument but as a character. Indeed after reading some interviews and specially a Laura Marling interview about her and her father’s collection of guitars – here save the link for later and read it – I realize what I already feel, our instruments are not just instruments, they have some unique traces, unique qualities that the holder, and only the holder, recognize. I see this in a pen, a musician see it in his or her instrument.

Let us be back to something more real and less metaphorical. I went to the oxford dictionary in search of a meaning for guitar and:
guitar

Line breaks: gui¦tar

Pronunciation: /ɡɪˈtɑː 

  

/

Definition of guitar in English:

NOUN

A stringed musical instrument, with a fretted fingerboard, typically incurved sides, and six or twelve strings, played by plucking or strumming with the fingers or a plectrum.

  

Good now I have a description of a Guitar! However it’s the way that adjective – “instrument” – that kept fixated on my mind. I said numerous of times: “I need an objective and that can relate to everyone”; but the question was how to do that?! It was then when in one of those moments that I have during my creative process that I understood it. But first let me explain how a “creative moment” of mine looks like: I am sited in a comfortable chair biting my pen, spinning around with the chair. And that was it! My pen! My instrument! I write with a pen I have found in my Grandmother’s drawer and I hardly feel comfortable writing with any other pen! It’s almost like I cannot pursue my thoughts with the traces of words with another pen, with another instrument!
It was in this moment that another definition was required and so it appeared:
instrument

Line breaks: in¦stru|ment

Pronunciation: /ˈɪnstrʊm(ə)nt 

  

/

Definition of instrument in English:

NOUN

A tool or implement, especially one for precision work

or

A means of pursuing an aim

As you will discover our little Katherine uses her guitar with such symbolism that it gains the importance of character in our story, it appears masquerade of unimportance at the first sight but it is that guitar – an heritage – that by being destroyed, destroys Katherine when she already was hanging by her fingernails at the edge of the cliff.

A lost artist with no instrument! Where to go and what to do? How can it be possible to live after losing something so precious, something that allows her to move towards her aim?  

You will find out where my pen took me in Katherine’s story. Don’t forget to help us because our story can help those whom aim is lost; doesn't help others feel good?

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You see, everyone involved in this project understands it and feels it.

Gloria is the element that balances and guides the main character; she is symbiotically connected with Katherine. For these reasons it was the hardest actress to cast.

After a few selections into a short list I decided that Cia Allan, would be the perfect fit for the role. Transmitting a sense of security but simultaneous of fragile and caress personality, Cia really possess the unique qualities that a mentor, like Gloria, requires.

  

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From broken pieces...

A melody without voice; waiting for voice... Only together we can make it alive!

A message from our lead actress about what attracted her to the project. 

Devora give us her insight about A song of the Anxious.

As Katherine she will be our lead character. If you desire to know more about the characters or the project itself please have a look into the directors videos on our Youtube channel.

Have a small piece of our script!


And our lovely Katherine

Interview with the Director Joao Nogueira

Max Cavenham as Dr. Andrew Collins.

To be able to explain why Max was the right choice for Collins first I need to show you Collins as envisioned by me.

Once the pages of a script – or any other story – are out there to be seen the characters lost their “authorship definition”. Each one of us will find characteristics that might be common with what others assign to that specific character or they might just be different. This opinion is not singularly related to Collins – instead I assign to my characters the power of being alive in the mind of those, in this case, watching the film.

Collins is an appreciator of life, as a professional he understands that he can help others feel those same pleasures or by taking them on a journey, discovering their own pleasures in life and enjoy them. However Katherine knows what makes her happy: singing, playing, writing… Only that Katherine cannot do it… Which road to take to reach where you want to go… Collins presents himself as a companion that Katherine will have during this journey of self-discover. Step by step Collins is showing Katherine that the places where she brings him are not as grim as she sees them.

The question is how come Max became the right person to perform this role?

I required a male figure that has a care and metropolitan look, well fit, someone who takes care of the body and as well of the mind. An appreciator of exquisite things but never forgetting his core and origins that lies under simplicity. His pleasures did transform him in a self-centred snobbish individual, they do not take the form of a whimsy instead they are meant to be shared and tasted as unique experiences that are unrepeatable…

Max has a very secure and expressive look, transmitting security and strength without failing to show compassion, care and understanding for others. By showing the script to Max, listen to his reaction by expressing himself enthusiastically and by sharing his views, it was clear that Max would really fit on Collins shoes.

Soon there will be more details about the A song of the Anxious.

Thank you see you soon,

Joao Nogueira

Director.

Anxiety is one of the most prevalent mental health problems in the UK and elsewhere, yet it is still under-reported, under-diagnosed and under-treated.

The experience of anxiety often involves interconnected symptoms and disorders. It is estimated that one in four people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year, while one in six experience a neurotic disorder such as anxiety or depression. Anxiety disorders are also estimated to affect 3.3% of children and young adults in the UK.

The prevalence of the most common forms of anxiety are given below.

• While 2.6% of the population experience depression and 4.7% have anxiety problems, as many as 9.7% suffer mixed depression and anxiety, making it the most prevalent mental health problem in the population as a whole.
• About 1.2% of the UK population experience panic disorders, rising to 1.7% for those experiencing it with or without agoraphobia.
• Around 1.9% of British adults experience a phobia of some description, and women are twice as likely to be affected by this problem as men.
• Agoraphobia affects between 1.5% and 3.5% of the general population in its fully developed form; in a less severe form, up to one in eight people experience this.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) affects 2.6% of men and 3.3% of women.
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorders (OCD) affect around 2–3% of the population.
• Generalised Anxiety Disorder affects between 2–5% of the population, yet accounts for as much as 30% of the mental health problems seen by GPs.

Previous survey evidence suggests that:

• Although, on average, women rate their life satisfaction higher than men, their anxiety levels are significantly higher than men.
• People in their middle years (35 to 59) report the highest levels of anxiety compared to other age groups.
• People in the older age groups tend to be happier and less anxious.
• People with a disability are, on average, more anxious than people without a disability.
• Unemployed people report significantly higher anxiety levels than those in employment.
• People in the lowest income groups report significantly higher anxiety levels than those in the higher income groups.
• On average, all ethnic groups report higher levels of anxiety than people who describe themselves as White British.
• Young people aged 16–24 are more likely to report lower levels of anxiety compared with adults generally.
• Women and young adults aged 20–29 are the most likely to seek help for anxiety from their GP.

Additionally, a YouGov survey of 2,300 adults in Britain carried out for Mental Health Awareness Week 2014 reveals that:

• Almost one in five people feel anxious all of the time or a lot of the time.
• Only one in twenty people never feel anxious.
• Women are more likely to feel anxious than men.
• The likelihood of feeling anxious reduces with age.
• Students and people not in employment are more likely to feel anxious all of the time or a lot of the time.
• Financial issues are a cause of anxiety for half of people, but this is less likely to be so for older people.
• Women and older people are more likely to feel anxious about the welfare of loved ones.
• Four in every ten employed people experience anxiety about their work.
• Around a fifth of people who are anxious have a fear of unemployment.
• Younger people are much more likely to feel anxious about personal relationships.
• Older people are more likely to be anxious about growing old, the death of a loved one and their own death.
• The youngest people surveyed (aged 18 - 24) were twice as likely to be anxious about being alone than the oldest people (aged over 55 years).
• One-fifth of people who have experienced anxiety do nothing to cope with it.
• The most commonly used coping strategies are talking to a friend, going for a walk, and physical exercise.
• Comfort eating is used by a quarter of people to cope with feelings of anxiety, and women and young people are more likely to use this as a way of coping.
• A third of the students in the survey said they cope by ‘hiding themselves away from the world’.
• People who are unemployed are more likely to use coping strategies that are potentially harmful, such as alcohol and cigarettes.
• Fewer than one in ten people have sought help from their GP to deal with anxiety, although those who feel anxious more frequently are much more likely to do this.
• People are believed to be more anxious now than they were five years ago.
• There is a tendency to reject the notion that having anxious feelings is stigmatising.
• People who experience anxiety most frequently tend to agree that it is stigmatising.
• Just under half of people get more anxious these days than they used to and believe that anxiety has stopped them from doing things in their life.
• Most people want to be less anxious in their day-to-day lives.
• Women and younger people are more likely to say that anxiety has impacted on their lives.