Rising Star Director Elijah Crawford Reveals ‘The Cure for Depression’ with Legendary Philadelphia Film Debut

I had to essentially have each actor descend into madness as a collective. I tried performance art techniques referencing Marina Abramovic's The Artist is Present, where I had them stare at each other for long periods of time, without saying a word. I also had them listen to Everywhere at The End of Time every single day until they finished the 6-hour ambient conquest it’s composed of. It was an illustration of sitting in uncomfortability for a seemingly inescapable long period of time, inherently mimicking the feeling of being depressed. From there I had each actor try to interpret what the madness they experienced meant to their individual characters. 

The Mom has a line, where she says “Oh Edie, Society isn’t built on thoughts, it’s built on action” because it’s so indicative of the hypocrisy of today’s day and age that I'm critiquing in the movie. This era of doing things, just to do them, without putting an ounce of thought or critical thinking behind it, then calling it “progressive art” to hide laziness behind subjectivity.  

The split screen scene where Edie has to make friends with Pinata girl, is one of my favorite scenes. It shows the juxtaposition between Edie and her proximity to the people around her. The scene has all the feelings of a resolution or some relief from the awkwardness as Edie seems to find a genuine connection with someone from the party. But as the scene progresses, you start to notice the subtext of the conversation actually reveals a more dark and harsh reality, that is in fact a foreshadowing of the disaster that shortly follows.  

Pulling off a 30 minute short film, in 3 shoot days, is no easy task. It was definitely a labor of love, which is directly correlated with why I went so BIG for the premiere. The work put into the film by all the cast and crew deserved a proper rollout in order to be truly appreciated. The location of the exhibition was very integral to the experience we were trying to curate. We needed a space that felt familiar, but not yet explored, this way the audience would have to blindly navigate their environments, not knowing what was awaiting them around each corner. Meg Saligmann welcomed us to transform her space with open arms, which I am eternally grateful for. 

There was a moment at the very beginning of the first night when the movie screened. I was standing on the balcony with my A.D. Knox, waiting for the movie to begin. And as soon as the intro of the movie began, I started crying. It was a culmination of a ton of things, but it was mostly a release of all the hard work and dedication that got me to that point. Against all odds, it was me, the self taught, college dropout, who brought the city together if only for one night, to support an artist’s idea. My entire family was there as well, some of which traveled from Ohio to come see me. When I walked into the afterparty, my mother and oldest brother started the applause, to which the entire room erupted on my behalf and that was just a beautiful thing, man. It was one of those moments that reminded me “This is what you’re meant to be doing. This is where you’re meant to be.” 

My biggest challenge with The Cure For Depression was knowing when to say “Okay, this is finished.” I was trying so many different storytelling and editing techniques, that it was extremely easy for the premise to become convoluted or lost in translation, especially considering the absurdity of the plot. At a certain point I had to just take a step back from this work that I’d been monitoring so intensely to look at the project as a whole, and even then, I wasn’t exactly satisfied, but I was content. 

This is a great question as I was heavily inspired by a ton of different mediums. I studied a ton of different immersive exhibitions and fashion shows. Sleep No More and Emma Gage’s “THE HEIST” for her MELKE AW24 collection were very high on that list. I also studied the curation of a ton of my favorite museum exhibitions. I remember seeing Miles Aldridge’s show at the Fotografiska, and being absolutely blown away by the way they transformed the gallery. Alex Prager’s “Run” exhibition at Lehmann Maupin and Nadia Lee Cohen’s “HELLO, My name is” at Jeffrey Deitch were huge inspirations for world building as well. I attended Alex Prager’s talk for her exhibition/premiere and asked her a question regarding trusting your art, and her advice was simply “If you’re unsure, you’re on the right track.” That has always resonated with me. 

As for the performances, I watched a ton of documentaries on performance artists. The Artist is Present by Marina Abramovic showed a ton of insight on the behind the scenes of what it takes to put actors in the mindset of doing redundant and tedious work for hours on end. It’s a bit of a cruel mindset to have to bring someone to, but I believe it was necessary. I wanted the actors in the exhibition to be so invested in their tasks that the viewers felt like they were trapped in purgatory. 

To further the experience even more I reached out to Kaylee Sabatino, an absolutely brilliant musician and composer, to craft a dreary atmospheric track that we played on loop for hours. By the end of the exhibition people were going insane, and the music played a huge role in that. Some people told me they heard the song in their nightmares long after the exhibition ended, and I think that’s a beautiful thing. 

The Future Of Filmmaking is in great hands, although the market feels oversaturated, we are absolutely in an era where there are films for almost every kind of person being produced. Every niche and subculture is getting touched on, and I couldn’t be happier. As for myself, I plan to carve out my own lane making compelling films, with immersive exhibitions to pair along with them. I think it’s such an elevated way to present films of any kind, and I’d die happy if I could do it for the rest of my life. 

My intention was for people to take away the harsh realities of what living with depression feels like. I’m urging people to try and find deeper connections with those around them. This world feels so surface level at times and that is only amplified when your mental health is poor. Sometimes there isn’t a quick fix or platitude that can fix a situation. Sometimes it takes time, effort, and attention. I feel like when people take a step back and look at the society we’ve created, this thin veil of empty positivity is actually far more toxic and detrimental to someone’s well-being than just addressing the issues thoughtfully.

I think people are so fucking worried about being liked that it’s having a negative effect on the art that’s currently being produced. People care more about being accepted and curating art that touches on mundane subjects, than they do about creating art that speaks to something they’re truly passionate about.  I don’t create my art to be accepted, I create my art as an expression of how I view the world we live in. You can love it or hate it, but it’s my truth.

Instead of wasting time figuring out if it’s good enough, just create it, because nobody truly knows what they want until you show it to them.

I’m most proud of my team, who stuck by me, in pulling off this insanely difficult task. Specifically…

My Curator: Elizabeth Bergeland

My Creative Producer: Dorit Avganim

My Immersive Exhibition Consultant: Taj Rauch

My Marketing and Communications Consultant: Donte Knox 

Even Audrey Gallagher, who not only helped out with production assistant work, but took the remarkable photos that were hanging in the gallery. 

Without them, the exhibition would have crumbled. It truly takes a village to pull off a vision like that, and they executed it flawlessly. 

But for me, if you catch lightning in a bottle once, that’s a miracle. If you do it twice, it’s a skill.

That being said, I can’t wait to do it again.