Outsider Documentary Screening and Panel Discussion

Join Maine Public for a special screening of the award-winning documentary Outsider, followed up by a panel discussion and reception.

The 40-minute film addresses both the tragedy and redemption that can result from mental illness. Outsider follows the personal, complex story of artist Maury Ornest, whose life encompassed baseball, schizoaffective disorder, and art. After his death at age 58, his sister Laura discovered more than 1,400 paintings in every room of his home and secret storage units, a discovery which set her on an unexpected journey.

The film presents a rarely seen, unvarnished view of a family’s journey with mental illness and captures the surprising ways they found connection.

Directed by Ted Haimes and produced by Ted Haimes and Nicole Lucas Haimes, Outsider won the Audience Award for best short at the Montclair Film Festival.

Click here to watch the film trailer!

The panel will include:

• Cynthia Sortwell, MD, a Child, Adolescent and Adult Psychiatrist, and Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Tufts University and Maine Medical Center.
• Laura Ornest, who is on the Advisory Board for the UCLA Friends of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, is a mental health advocate, and sister of Maury Ornest.
• Mia Bogyo, Education Director at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockland.
• Cynthia Sortwell, MD, a Child, Adolescent and Adult Psychiatrist, and Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Tufts University and Maine Medical Center.

Moderating the discussion will be Maine Public’s Keith Shortall.

At the reception, guests will have the opportunity to see and purchase Maury Ornest’s art and talk with the panelists. All proceeds from the sale of the art will benefit the Strand Theatre and Maine Public.

Tickets are $10/Adults; $8/Seniors and Under 12; and $7/Strand Theatre Members. Tickets are available in advance on the Strand Theatre's website, and at the walk-up box office one hour prior to showtime.

To find more information about the film and to secure your tickets, visit the Strand’s website.