Mental Block

Mental Block depicts the journey of Ali, a young freerunner striving to find his own personal route through life using the discipline of parkour, but all motion stops when he reaches the inevitable mental block. Set within inner-city estates, Ali discovers that the hardest obstacles to overcome are the ones in his mind. Parkour/ Freerunning is a physical discipline inspired by human movement. It focuses on uninterrupted, efficient forward motion over, under, around and through obstacles in one's environment. Such movement may involve running, jumping, climbing, and more complex techniques. The goal of parkour is to adopt one's movement to any given obstacle in one's path. Mental Block is set within the culture of freerunning that traces the psychological process passed through in order to transcend your fears. I possess unique access and perspective being both a (female) freerunner and filmmaker. I have maintained the integrity and authenticity of the film through my filmmaking practices that fuse the genres of documentary, film and music to vividly replicate this experience. Mental Block will resonate with its young and diverse audience through the accessibility of its fast-moving, engaging and concise audio and visual narrative. I have collaborated with a contemporary music producer Daz-I-Que to create a unique soundscape that harnesses some of the industrial sounds of inner-city living to represent the protagonist's relentless mental state of mind. The freerunner's goal is to use the environment to develop himself and to always keep moving and not go backwards.