On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the introduction of the Law 180 (“Basaglia Law“) 
The film tells the work of Franco Basaglia, who revolutionised Italian psychiatry, showing the degrading situation that existed in Italian psychiatric hospitals before the introduction of the so-called “Basaglia Law” in 1978.
Once upon a time there was the City of Fools: the madhouse. It wasn‘t a place to heal but a place of segregation, a place to hide the shame of mental illness. The situation did not change until an outspoken young psychiatrist from Venice was sent to the edge of the psychiatric world, to Gorizia in 1960. He lit the spark that turned into a fire: his name was Franco Basaglia. Basaglia believed in human dignity and democracy and that modern psychiatry should go beyond the closure of mental institutions. It must deal with the causes that lead to mental illness: poverty, homelessness, addictions and discrimination.
It would take years for Basaglia and his team to see the fruits of their hard work: on 13 May 1978 the Italian Parliament approved the Law 180 for national Psychiatric Reform, which abolished mental institutes in Italy.
The film will be briefly introduced by Prof. Alan Rosen and Ms Vivienne Miller, who have often visited and hosted seminars at the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health, situated in the Trieste Mental Health Department in Italy.
Vivienne Miller MA (Educ. & Work); BA (Italian Studies), Dip.OT (WA) is a Mental Health Consultant in education, training, project management and evaluation as well as an Occupational Therapist. She has worked in mental health services in Australia and England for over 45 years in many capacities: occupational therapist and manager, quality improvement manager, university lecturer, co-ordinator of site visit educational programs, project officer to develop mental health standards, member of research teams, mental health educator and university lecturer. She is a co-author of the National Standards for Mental Health Services (1996) and an advisor to the National Mental Health Workforce Standards. Since 1996 she has held the position of Conference Director of the largest, most inclusive mental health conference in Australia (TheMHS Conference, run through TheMHS Learning Network Inc.). TheMHS attracts over 1000 clinicians, managers, team leaders, consumers, families, educators, policy-makers and researchers annually.
Professor Alan Rosen, AO is Professorial Fellow at the Illawarra Institute of Mental Health, University of Wollongong; Clinical Associate Professor, Brain & Mind Centre, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney; Senior Consultant Psychiatrist, Far West NSW LHD Mental Health Services; Member, TheMHS Learning Network; Secretary, Comprehensive Area Service Psychiatrists (CASP) Leadership Network; Former Inaugural Deputy Commissioner, Mental Health Commission of New South Wales, 2013-15.
In collaboration with TheMHS Learning Network and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP)
Produced by Ciao Ragazzi Srl for Rai Fiction (180‘ with English subtitles)
Free entry. Limited seats.
Booking essential: www.eventbrite.com.au
