Sabadell, a new festival venue: Dennis González, Raül Romeva and María Teresa Pérez open a dialogue on media exposure and mental health
BCN Sports Film Festival held today in Sabadell the parallel activity “Laure: Mental Health and Privacy”, a session focusing on a reality that is increasingly present in high-performance sport: the pressure of external scrutiny, media exposure, and the impact it can have on emotional wellbeing.
The day also has special symbolic value: it is the first time Sabadell joins the festival as a venue, in collaboration with Club Natació Sabadell—as part of its 110th anniversary—and with the support and partnership of the Brain Film Festival – Fundació Pasqual Maragall, expanding the dialogue between cinema, health and sport.
The event opened with welcome remarks by Montse González, Deputy Mayor and Councillor for Sports at Sabadell City Council; Claudi Martí, president of Club Natació Sabadell, and Francesc Terrón, president of the Fundació Barcelona Olímpica.
A story to talk about what weighs outside the pool
Through the documentary Laure, the session invited audiences to look beyond performance: identity when your life becomes content, the difficulty of setting boundaries, the noise created by expectations, and the challenge of staying grounded when the spotlight never turns off. A proposal that connects directly with an uncomfortable but necessary question: what happens to the person when the public persona takes over everything?
A talk bringing together sport, research and mental health perspectives
After the screening, the talk created a close, practical space to discuss mental health and media pressure in elite sport: what the media chooses to spotlight, how that constant gaze affects an athlete’s identity and daily life, and which tools can help manage it without losing balance.
The conversation also addressed where the boundaries lie between public and private life, how athletes decide what to share (and what not to), and the importance of having professional support and strong environments when exposure becomes part of performance.
Participants:
- Dennis González, athlete and artistic swimmer
- Raül Romeva, researcher in sport and values
- María Teresa Pérez, psychiatrist at Fundació Vidal i Barraquer and advisor to the Brain Film Festival – Fundació Pasqual Maragall
Sabadell joins the festival map
With this session, BCN Sports Film Festival reinforces its commitment to being a festival connected to the territory: more venues, more audiences and more conversations, bringing sports cinema to new spaces and building bridges with institutions that are part of the history of Catalan sport, such as Club Natació Sabadell.
Check the programme and book your tickets on the festival website.
