Professor Denielle Elliott and team held a film screening and roundtable for Becoming the Butterfly, a film that captures the experiences of those who live with the effects of brain injuries. The film uses research-creation and an arts-based approach to integrate film and ethnographic methodologies to engage people living with brain injuries in all phases of research including design, implementation, analysis, dissemination and evaluation.
Working in collaboration with the Brain Injury Society of Toronto (BIST) and some of its members, the team created this short creative, non-fiction film about hope, change, and understanding. Brain injuries are a recognized global health priority, generating increased public interest in the past ten years, as research has identified increased hospitalizations and deaths, especially among the homeless, elderly, athletes, and military personnel. At the screening, community members, patient groups, graduate students, and researchers in health and medicine discussed the benefits and challenges of arts-based methods in portraying the lived experiences of those with chronic brain injuries. Professor Elliott stated that “one way to encourage the engagement of patient groups is to consider methods that democratize research by allowing for a wider community participation, like film.”
Autumn Rennie, is the Director, Co-writer, and Co-producer for Becoming the Butterfly, as well as an MD/PhD student at the University of Toronto. To learn more about the making of the film, you can read the full blogpost written by Autumn Rennie on the Beautiful Brains Collaboratory. This project was supported by Connected Minds, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies at York University.