Ignore Your True Feelings at Your Own Peril

(THIS FILM WAS PART OF OUR 2025 FESTIVAL LINEUP AND IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE ON THE SLAMDANCE CHANNEL) One autumn, filmmaker Miranda Siegel experiences a bipolar mixed episode. Given her busy schedule, she chooses to ignore the episode, attempting to white-knuckle through the sleeplessness, racing thoughts, and suicidal ideation in order to keep up with schoolwork and her job. Disregarding her condition presents a danger because it means she is living out of alignment with reality. Her body notices this contrast immediately, and revolts. First by retching, then gagging; soon, Miranda is vomiting bile almost every morning. She begins documenting her illness with an iPhone, as she now has a rare opportunity to share her struggle with this condition. This documentation follows her into her ten-day hospitalization, her benzodiazepine withdrawal, and her six-week outpatient treatment in the aftermath, as she comes to the realization that she needs to live differently in this busy world — and no longer ignore her feelings.