Solacium

Being an edgy, party-loving 90s teenager is all fun and games, until someone gets diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and commits a brutal murder. 'Solacium' is also a story about love, loyalty and a friendship spanning over 20 years. Together and apart without ever truly letting go, even in the darkest depths of schizophrenia, the bond between Sophie and Jay may stretch but it will never break. Or will it? What makes someone lose their mind? Could you forgive your best friend if he had committed a crime so brutal it destroyed an entire family? Can you still love a man who has killed? These are the questions Sophie Liebtreu faces the day she discovers her childhood best friend, the handsome and talented Jay Adler, has been sentenced to 20 years in 'Solacium', a psychiatric institution on the outskirts of Berlin. Devastated by the news, and struggling to understand what drove the man she thought she knew to commit a murder so savage her family tried to hide the truth from her, she embarks on a journey into their shared past in a desperate quest for answers. Answers she so urgently needs to fight her own demons and to move on with her life. Set against the backdrop of 90s street culture - skateboarding, BMXing, DJing and graffiti art - the protagonists travel across Europe enjoying a hedonistic lifestyle spiked with drugs and alcohol. We follow their escapades at raucous parties in Ibiza, Amsterdam and Berlin, until the day Jay starts going off the rails. Solacium is based on a true story. While providing a glimpse into the tortured mind of a paranoid schizophrenic, we see behind the psychologists' label, with the story offering a different portrayal than the one chosen by the media. The character we get to know is not just a crazed blood-thirsty monster, but a sensitive boy who was dealt the wrong cards. A man who has battled his whole life to find a place in a society where mental illness is still stigmatised.