Oscar-winning filmmaker Orlando von Einseidel turns the lens on himself and the ghosts that have haunted his family.

British director Orlando von Einseidel is known for embedding himself in war zones. His films have documented the fight for survival in the jungles of Congo in Virunga (MIFF 2014) and the rubble-strewn streets of Syria in The White Helmets, for which he won an Academy Award.

In his latest, the war zone is his own family who have long avoided the elephant in the room: the death of Orlando’s brother, Evelyn. Newly diagnosed with schizophrenia and depression, Evelyn took his own life at age 22 but now, over a decade later, Orlando decides to make his extended family confront the subject matter head-on in a series of self-filmed bushwalks throughout the British countryside.

The beauty and elegance of the imagery sits in stark contrast to the film’s subject matter, but amid its confronting realities is an important and honest discussion about the mental health of young men. Named Best Documentary at the British Independent Film Awards, Evelyn is a vital and cathartic cinematic experience.

“Profoundly moving … an absorbing and arrestingly raw portrait of the hurt that people absorb into their hearts, and how that degree of repression can snuff out the memories we hold most dear.” – IndieWire

Contains suicide themes