Rich Clune teams up with Toronto producer to create a short film that explores mental health

BarDown Staff

Rich Clune , YouTube/Cameron Murton

Toronto Marlies winger Rich Clune has played a lot of different roles over his hockey career, with his most recent role being the veteran leader on a young team, but this past summer the 30-year-old tried something entirely new.

On his spare time, Clune does a lot of work with the Canadian Mental Health Association and Sick Not Weak and volunteers as a counsellor for recovering addicts at Renascent Treatment Centre, which led to his recent project Hypostasis, an experimental short film that explores ontology and mental health.

The protagonist's jacket is the central prop in Hypostasis. It represents Matthew's happier days as a varsity athlete in high school. Though that time has long since passed, he still wears the jacket as a form of armour to protect himself from exposure to the world around him. Please see the link in my bio to support our film. Huge thanks to everyone who has supported us so far. 📸@samanthabfalco #film #mentalhealth

A post shared by Rich Clune (@richclune) on Aug 7, 2017 at 2:34pm PDT

Last week, producer Cameron Murton released the first trailer of the short film and it looks pretty interesting.

It's a 30-minute short film that follows the mind of character Matthew Robinson as he tried to control his bipolar condition and nurture his relationships with family and friends, and all profits from the film will go towards different mental health institutions around Toronto.

The cast and crew are currently working to raise $35,000 through an online campaign to cover the costs of the cast, crew, post production and donations for different mental health organizations. They also released a crowdfunding video to help with donations, which can be seen below.