| Director: | Alek Keshishian |
| Starring: | Selena Gomez |
| Distributor: | Apple TV+ |
| Runtime: | 95 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me is a 2022 American documentary film that follows singer and actress Selena Gomez during a six year period of her career. The film documents her struggles with physical and mental well-being in the wake of her diagnosis with lupus and bipolar disorder.[1] It was directed by Alek Keshishian, produced by Lighthouse Management & Media and Interscope Films,[2] and released to Apple TV+ and select theaters on November 4, 2022.
Premiering at the opening night of the AFI Fest on November 2, 2022, Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me was met with a positive critical reception; the documentary was praised for mental health transparency. Accompanying the film's release, "My Mind & Me", a song by Gomez featured in the end credits, was released as a single.
The official synopsis as released by Apple TV+, "After years in the limelight, Selena Gomez achieves unimaginable stardom. But just as she reaches a new peak, an unexpected turn pulls her into darkness. This uniquely raw and intimate documentary spans her six-year journey into a new light."[3]
The documentary follows Gomez on a six-year journey starting from around 2015, after Keshishian directed Gomez's "Hands to Myself" music video.[5] Keshishian said: "I had no interest in making a traditional pop doc. I wanted to show something more authentic and Selena did, too. She has a raw vulnerability that captured me ... I had no idea then that it would become a six-year labor of love."[6]
Gomez announced the release of her documentary with a short clip posted to her Instagram.[7] The film premiered at the AFI Fest on November 2, 2022, at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood,[6] and was released two days after on Apple TV+ and in select movie theaters.[8] [9] The trailer for the documentary was released on October 10, which is World Mental Health Day.[10] The trailer included the song "My Mind & Me", released on November 3, 2022; it was performed by Gomez and written by Gomez, Amy Allen, Jon Bellion, Jordan Johnson, Stefan Johnson and Michael Pollack.[11] According to a Samba TV research panel of 3.1 million smart television households who tuned in for at least one minute, My Mind & Me drew in 78,100 viewers in its first two days.[12]
Upon release, Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me, received positive reviews from critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 97% approval rating based on 36 reviews.[13] On Metacritic, the film received a weighted average score of 68 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[14]
Chris Azzopardi of The New York Times praised the documentary as an "honest portrait study of stardom and mental illness." He writes the film "offers a hopeful catharsis: How, when we reveal our hardest truths, we can heal together."[15] Writing for IndieWire, David Ehrlich notes the "raw and messy" documentary is "not a movie about healing so much as a movie about learning to hurt in the healthiest way possible. And if its diaristic, inside-out approach has the strange effect of keeping us at a distance, it also invites its most vulnerable young viewers to appreciate that even their favorite superstar is still fighting to be closer to herself."[16] Lovia Gyarkye of The Hollywood Reporter writes "Unlike other music documentaries (a popular format, as of late, for recalibrating celebrity images), Gomez’s project operates at a rawer, grittier register. It’s textured by the 30-year-old star’s relative youth and her attempts to communicate honestly, instead of perfectly."[17] Varietys Chris Willman wrote: "It’s far from the first music doc to reveal that it can be lonely at the top, but it is among the few to convey that there are no easy answers for that when mental illness is at the root. Of all the portrayals of pop superstars that have been produced in-house in recent years, “My Mind & Me” is probably the one with the least celebratory third act … which is something to celebrate."[18]
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Critics Choice Association | November 16, 2022 | Seal of Female Empowerment in Entertainment | Selena Gomez: My Mind and Me | [19] | ||
| Hollywood Music in Media Awards | November 16, 2022 | Song - Documentary Film | Selena Gomez, Amy Allen, Jon Bellion, Jordan Johnson, Stefan Johnson and Michael Pollack (for "My Mind & Me") | [20] | ||
| Music Documentary/Special Program | Alek Keshishian, Michelle An and Katherine LeBlond | |||||
| Variety Hitmakers | December 3, 2022 | Film Song of the Year | Selena Gomez (for "My Mind & Me") | [21] | ||
| Hollywood Critics Association Film Awards | February 24, 2023 | Best Documentary Film | Selena Gomez: My Mind and Me | [22] | ||
| Cinema for Peace Awards | February 24, 2023 | Global Health | Alek Keshishian | [23] | ||
| Golden Reel Awards | February 26, 2023 | Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Non-Theatrical Documentary | Anthony Vanchure, Mike James Gallagher, Matt Olivo, Jeff Pitts, Luke Kelley, Sanaa Kelley | [24] | ||
| iHeartRadio Music Awards | March 27, 2023 | Favorite Documentary | Selena Gomez: My Mind and Me | [25] | ||
| MTV Movie & TV Awards | May 7, 2023 | Best Music Documentary | Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me | [26] | ||
| Webby Awards | May 15, 2023 | Trailer, General Video (Video) | Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me: Diary | [27] | ||
| Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | January 6–7, 2024 | Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Programming | Alek Keshishian, Paul Marchand | [28] | ||
| Astra Creative Arts TV Awards | January 8, 2024 | Best Streaming Documentary Movie | Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me | [29] |