Boston in the late ‘70s; Cameron (Mark Ruffalo) is struggling with bipolar disorder; the future appears uncertain for his wife Maggie (Zoe Saldana) and their two daughters when a particularly difficult period sees him both fired from his job and hospitalised. When she is awarded a business scholarship to attend Columbia University, Maggie convinces her reluctant husband – convalescing at home on lithium treatment – to look after the girls for the eighteen months she’ll be in New York, a less than ideal arrangement given his frequent manic behaviour and booze-soaked depressions. For her debut feature writer/director Maya Forbes draws on personal experience of being raised by a bipolar father; by turns poignant and humorous, Infinitely Polar Bear is a refreshingly positive depiction of living with mental illness.

Ages: 16+