Notes from the Inside with James Rhodes

TX: TBC

Classical musician James Rhodes - dubbed “the maverick pianist”- is passionate about taking his music out of the confines of the concert hall and into places it rarely reaches. 

Convinced that music can change lives for the better, James takes a Steinway grand piano inside one of Britain’s largest psychiatric hospitals.

With exclusive and unprecedented access, James will meet patients to hear their searing life stories and share his own. This inspirational, moving and funny film has at its heart James performing individual pieces specially chosen for the patients.

James had always dreamt of being a classical pianist from an early age, but it seemed beyond his reach.  Just five years ago, after battling depression, self-harm and drug abuse, James spent nine months in a psychiatric hospital. It was only after a friend smuggled an iPod into James’ locked ward, loaded up with classical music, that he began to feel a glimmer hope. Today, he has four albums behind him and a busy touring schedule.

This film looks at mental illness through the eyes of someone who has experienced it first-hand and follows him as he returns to a psychiatric unit for the first time in five years.

Prod co: Fresh One Productions