Making Sense Together

Kjetil is Kjetil. Kjetil loves his cat, and playing guitar. At times, Kjetil also experiences a lot of anxiety and distress; the doctors call it a mental disorder. Most of all, Kjetil wants to get by on his own. What happens when the system around him doesn’t offer peace and stability, but just one institution after another, medicines, and force?

Power and powerlessness are on the agenda in Making Sense Together. It’s about how the Norwegian mental health services creates power structures between healthy and unwell, relatives and employees. In the film, five different people share their immensely personal stories from within this system. These are then interwoven with archive materials and the story of Kjetil and his mother, and of their meeting with the bureaucracy of the healthcare services. Without simplifying or judging, this is a film that shows what the feeling of powerlessness can do to a person’s mental health and self image.

Ellen Ugelstad (f. 1973) is previously known for her film Indian Summer about her brother Torstein, who lives with a schizophrenia diagnosis. In Making Sense Together, she delivers a bold, nuanced, and ever relevant documentary that also gives hope – by listening to the stories and life experiences of its subjects, and taking them seriously.