Video: Alpha Mare

After a mental health crisis, Karin finds peace among her beloved horses.

Directors: Mimi Wilcox, Victor Tadashi Suarez

Website: Tienda Films

Running time: 10 minutes

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As a child in Denmark, Karin Dilou was uncomfortable in her own skin – especially around her parents, who wanted a boy and were deeply disappointed she was born a girl. She later moved to California, determined to pursue a peaceful life in the countryside, far from other people. But, living with undiagnosed bipolar disorder, she suffered a painful break from reality, and found herself taken away in handcuffs and locked up. ‘I was half dead,’ she says of the devastating experience. ‘I’d rather die than anybody should lock me up again.’