Out now: Our Turn to Talk.
Out now – Watch the full film here
Teens today are at the center of a mental health epidemic in America. Anxiety, trauma, depression, eating disorders and addiction are responsible for the highest rates of suicide ever recorded among young people.
Our Turn to Talk is a documentary film focused on teenagers who say they’re the generation to put an end to mental health stigma. To do it, they’re telling their own stories – raw and unfiltered. From skyrocketing rates of anxiety and depression to the impacts of racial and intergenerational trauma, these teens share their struggles and triumphs and carry a powerful message: Storytelling saves lives.
OUR TURN TO TALK is a production of Principle Pictures for WETA in partnership with Well Beings, a major public media, multi-platform campaign from WETA committed to demystifying and de-stigmatizing our physical and mental health through storytelling. This film features storytellers from This Is My Brave, an organization committed to de-stigmatizing mental health issues through live storytelling and scientific research.
Our First Film: The Short Documentary
This mini-documentary, produced by Principle Pictures, was our first film endeavor. It was funded through a prestigious Inspiration Grant from Alkermes in 2017. Watch four brave individuals from our Boston production who audition for the show and are cast experience sharing their stories of living with PTSD, depression, suicidal ideation, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder and substance use disorder from the This Is My Brave stage. See them come forward in a public way to break down mental illness and addiction stigma by sharing their stories, and witness the transformation that takes place as they make the decision to no longer harbor the secret of their struggle.
This Is My Brave’s 26-minute documentary film also tells the story of Founder, Jennifer Marshall, and her decision in early 2013 to go public with her painful journey living with Type 1 Bipolar Disorder, and how it led her to create the nonprofit organization later that year.
You can bring the This Is My Brave Short Documentary to your community! Click below to view our screening guide to see how to host a screening in your area and support the work of This Is My Brave.
Short Documentary Debut Event Photos
Our Filmmakers
STORIES THAT CHANGE THE WAY WE VIEW THE WORLD
Founded by filmmaker/journalist/author Beth Murphy in 1999, the Principle team has produced more than twenty documentary films, including six features, that have been screened by some of the world’s most prestigious film festivals, broadcast networks and media organizations – including PBS (POV, Independent Lens, NewsHour), The New York Times, TIME, Discovery, Sundance Channel, History Channel, Lifetime, The Washington Post, ABC, NBC and CBS, among many others. Podcasts have been produced with PRX, Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting, WGBH, The GroundTruth Project, and UNICEF.
Principle creates social change through impact campaigns, most recently succeeding in building a women’s college in rural Afghanistan. Honors include: Emmy Award, Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award, and Overseas Press Club Award. Murphy is also Executive Producer at The GroundTruth Project, a global media nonprofit based at WGBH-Boston.
Beth Murphy, Director & Producer
Beth Murphy is the founder of Principle Pictures, a media and impact company dedicated to storytelling for social impact. Beth is director/producer/executive producer for more than 20 documentaries, including six award-winning feature films, news reports, podcasts, and photo series. Her work premiers at top-tier festivals globally and can be found across national and international media outlets, including PBS (FRONTLINE, POV, Independent Lens and NewsHour), The New York Times Op-Docs, TIME, History Channel, The Sundance Channel, Discovery Networks, Lifetime, ABC News, Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting, The Washington Post, PRI The World, NHK, Canal Vie, and many others. Through targeted impact campaigns, Beth raises awareness and promotes action for issues that demand social change. An impact campaign with her film What Tomorrow Brings succeeded in building a women’s college in rural Afghanistan. Beth is also author of Fighting For Our Future, a documentary companion book heralded by Library Journal as doing the “cancer community a vital service.” Her honors include: Emmy Award, World Press Photo Award, Overseas Press Club Award, Scripps Howard Award, National Headliner Award, Webby Award, RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award, AWRT’s Gracie Allen Award, One Shared World International Outreach Award, and Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award. Beth lives on Cape Cod with her husband, Dennis, and daughter, Isabelle.
Patrice Howard, Producer
Patrice Howard is a multimedia journalist, documentary filmmaker and writer with a passion for sharing stories about people and issues that don’t always make headlines. She joined Principle Pictures in 2018, where she is producing character-driven documentary films and digital-first stories for a variety of outlets. She will co-produce the upcoming Brave Teens, a WETA co-production focused on teens living – and thriving – with mental illness. Patrice was previously a bureau chief and on-air correspondent for Feature Story News, covering social justice, global health, immigration and politics in America for international news networks. She also produced video stories for Reuters and Agence France-Presse (AFP). Patrice is a graduate of Boston University’s College of Communication and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism where she received the Video Storytelling Award.
Sadie Zuch, Associate Producer & Assistant Editor
Sadie Zuch is a multi-form creative. Through her documentary film & podcast producing, her mission is to craft character-driven stories that expand our consciousness and re-humanize the people, places, and problems that our systems of power are designed to dehumanize. Sadie joined Principle Pictures in 2020 and works across a variety of film and podcast projects including, the Hidden Heroes podcast, the Brave Wave podcast, and the upcoming Brave Teens film.
She also recently produced a short documentary with Pathos Labs about wrongful conviction. Sadie was previously a Production Assistant with SideXSide Studios. She holds a BA in international affairs from Northeastern University and a Graduate Certificate in documentary filmmaking from the Institute of Documentary Filmmaking at The George Washington University.
Stephanie Khoury, Lead Editor
Stephanie Khoury began her career as a storyteller by documenting life through her drawings and now spends her time collaging moments into films. Stephanie is a documentary editor and was named a Karen Schmeer Diversity in the Edit Room Mentee for 2019-2020. Currently, she’s working with Principle Pictures on the pilot episode of Our Future Our Fight and the feature documentary Brave Teens. She’s edited several documentary shorts including Gloves Off, which premiered on BET, and Death Metal Grandma, which premiered at SXSW and was selected as a New York Times OpDoc. Stephanie has had the pleasure of contributing to several non-fiction series such as Glad You Asked (Vox Media), The Future of America’s Past (PBS), and The History You Didn’t Learn (TIME). While at Talking Eyes Media, Stephanie edited and produced several documentaries and contributed to the online magazine Newest Americans.
