When Oscar-nominated producer Graham Leader contacted Mad Machine Films about editing his new documentary, The Friendship Bench, it took seconds to say yes to participating in this extraordinary labor of love. 

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Zimbabwe, a country of 16 million, had 12 psychiatrists. That isn't a typo. For a nation that struggles with multiple layers of mass and individual trauma, this was a major mental health crisis.

 

Dr. Dixon Chibanda, one of those 12 psychiatrists, came up with an idea: he began training grandmothers in providing therapy, and placed them on benches outside of clinics. People could walk up to them and receive free psychological help. 

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The program was and still is a major, daily-growing success. 

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South African director Reabetswe Moeti-Vogt and her Zimbabwean crew shot a beautiful, touching documentary and we were honored to turn all that powerful footage into a film.