Written by Dayna Altman and Thea Touchton and directed by Jason Taglieri, ‘Bake It Till You Make It’ is a feature length documentary charting Dayna Altman’s journey into making her food based mental health solutions after anxiety and stress destroyed her whole life in high school. Now, the founder of a movement that aims to live authentically, speak openly and bake bravely, we go down the rabbit hole with Dayna as she charts her tumultuous journey into happiness, using baking to successfully turn her life around.

We spend a significant part of our lives thinking, making and obsessing about food so it was always going to be a mystery why food doesn’t play a more prominent role in our mental health. Enter Dayna Altman, entrepreneur, author and public health professional. Formulating baking based mental health plans based on her own experiences navigating the various issues in her life, Dayna has discovered a new avenue through which people of all ages can ensure positive mental health.

Dayna is a fascinating character. Always there with a wide smile on her face, we find Dayna explaining the hell she went through and how food was there to comfort and heal her in the end. There is an earnestness to Dayna; she is ever inspired and hopeful but also cognizant of the sheer trauma that she had to endure to get here. After the US Surgeon General recognized her efforts in 2022, Dayna had made it; her relentless efforts to spread positivity through food had brought her to the highest echelons of power to thunderous applause.

We live in a complicated world and good mental health is extremely important to remain healthy and functional. ‘Bake It Till You Make It’ recognizes this and presents a fascinating journey of a young woman who took the towering odds head on and came out on top. The fast, technological society of today was always going to be a tough battleground for dealing with mental health but Dayna’s story provides the necessary tools and strategies to show people everywhere that it is indeed possible to vanquish the demons that aim to make us alone, depressed and sad.

In the technical department, ‘Bake It Till You Make It’ gets full marks. The pacing is energetic, ensuring no moments where the narrative grounds to a halt. The narrative structure also keeps things interesting; interviews of Dayna and her compatriots are interspersed with footage of her baking the most delicious items. In the cinematography department, the team captures the visuals of food with utmost passion. Simply put, the film is an audiovisual delight.

To summarise, ‘Bake It Till You Make It’ It is a fascinating documentary that celebrates positivity and mental health. A feel good story of perseverance, courage and humility, the film will convince you of the power of food in making a positive impact on lives the world over.