Saving Aunt Mimi (2021)

Saving Aunt Mimi: (S.A.M.) is a film based on an African-American woman who, after traumatic experiences develops a mental illness. S.A.M captures the challenges the antagonist Mimi faces, including paranoia, depression, anxiety, and hallucinations which alter her promising career as a real estate agent. We follow Danielle, Mimi's niece, the protagonist, as she deals with her aunt's mental issues. Mimi, who once had everything she could want hits rock bottom when after a decision to leave her job does not go as planned, and things begin to spiral out of control. Bottling up everything inside of her for 52 years, from multiple miscarriages, failed relationships and sexual assault, Mimi's anxiety starts to kick in. Mimi's family becomes worried and decides to let Mimi stay with them after Mimi's mother passes away. Danielle is triggered by Mimi's episodes, and her grandmother passing while navigating her own career and finds it hard to cope with Mimi's mental illness that her family seems to sweep under the rug. Mimi won't seek the help she needs, in fear of her image as a prominent broker in the city. Danielle eventually turns her back on Mimi, not realizing she may be Mimi's last hope for survival. This film captures mental illness in a humanizing and relatable way and strives to show that everyone is struggling with something. S.A.M. is based on a true story from writer Maurita Salkey as she has witnessed the stigma and negligence of mental illness in African-American families first hand.