Category: Films

This art show was created through a call for art that asked artists with lived experience, “How has art helped you survive?” This collection of work was accompanied by artist statements and gallery which are provided in their entirety here. Each artwork with edited versions of the statements was shown in the theater in between…

Documentary 2026 United Kingdom 25 minutes Language: English Director: Emma Goude Producer: www.greenlanefilms.co.uk Synopsis from the producer OPEN DIALOGUE & THE ODDESSI TRIAL follows the journey of Emma Goude, author of My Beautiful Psychosis, who spent three years filming the Peer Supported Open Dialogue training in the UK. Following the progress of the ODDESSI trial, which…

Documentary 2025 Norway 70 minutes Language: NorwegianSubtitles: English Director: Nora Nivedita Tvedt Producer: Lillian Løvseth Watch or rent the film on: SF Anytime, Prime Video, Apple TV. Strim, Blockbuster, Google Play Movies, RiksTV and Tv2Play. A family documentary about Tuni and her best friend, the dog Salto. In September 2021, Tuni’s half-brother took his own…

Documentary 2025 Poland 10 minutes Language: Polish Subtitles: English Director: Joanna Obiegałka The film titled “Joanna” tells a deeply personal and moving story about a mental health crisis, the search for meaning, the recovery process, and the power of dreams. Summary A poignant exploration of vulnerability and resilience, Joanna follows one woman’s journey through a…

Documentary 2025 Italy 14 minutes Language: ItalianSubtitles: English Director: Samuele Wurtzwith: Caterina Gulfo and Yahya Mahfoud «The Cicadas» is realized by the students of a technical high school of a rural area in the north-west of Italy (Savona county). The film is about nature, pollution caused by chemical industries, immigration from north Africa and adolescence.…

Documentary 2024 Norway 8 minutes Language: English Produced by MUNCH in collaboration with Spindel Film. ©Munchmuseet The film is shown and shared with permission from the Munch Museum Watch the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzsHwL3chNE&t=163s Edvard Munch was one of Modernism’s most significant artists. His tenacious experimentation within painting, graphic art, drawing, sculpture, photo and film has given…

Documentary Denmark 2026 Language: English Director: Janus Bang Is psychiatry an illusion? To answer this question, we need to look at what psychiatric leaders do; what they tell the public that their specialty can accomplish; if the patients agree with them; and what the science tells us. Summary Psychiatry affects us all. We all become…

Documentary 2025 USA 7 minutes Language: English Director: Kermit Cole Watch the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPIn72jReJc Ida Katharine Graver paints because life depends on it. On the edge of being abandoned to psychiatry as a child – a broken blossom – she thrived instead as a hothouse flower: gathering the shapes and colors of life and giving…

Documentary 2026 Germany 35 minutes Language: GermanSubtitles: English Director: Josepha Groner Synopsis   Being In A Film is an intimate documentary portrait of Ingrid E. Johnson. Born and raised in the United States, Ingrid grew up in front of a camera. Her German grandfather, eager to stay connected to the family’s life across the Atlantic, gave…

Documentary/science fiction parody 2026 USA 15 minutes Language: EnglishSubtitles: English Director and producer: Issa Ibrahim Website: https://www.issaibrahim.net/films Synopsis Would you trust a mentally ill artist to negotiate the fate of civilization with aliens over zoom?  Only if he were The Last Black Man on Earth. A pretend virtual sci-fi documentary. Multi-disciplinary artist Issa Ibrahim courageously…

Creative Humanities Score (Cidadãos Cantantes Scenic Choir) Documentary 2025 Brazil 104 min Language: PortuguesSubtitles in English Documentary Director: Renato Celso Kraté MaldosArtistic Director: Psychologist – Isabel Cristina Lopes (Cris Lopes)Musical Director: Conductor – Julio Cezar Giudice MalufPerformance Director: Rebeca Lopes Maluf Watch film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZoTO2P80FI Short synopsis  Score of Creative Humanities is a documentary exploring a…

Documentary 2025 Scotland 18 minutes Language: EnglishSubtitles: English Director: Robyn Thomas Summary The world is more than it seems. In the trickling stream bellows the Sea God, and within the moss-blanketed forest stands Pan Ra. This world teems with danger and wonder, with stories and mythical beings. It is an immensely difficult world to navigate,…

Documentary2020 United Kingdom9 minutes Language: EnglishSubtitles: – Director: Katinka Blackford Newman Watch the film: https://vimeo.com/483243650 Synopsis This documentary recounts Katinka Blackford Newman’s experience with antidepressant treatment that began for insomnia and stress but quickly led to severe psychological side effects, including hallucinations and self-harm. She was hospitalized and placed on multiple medications over the course…

Documentary 2025 Norway 52 minutes Language: NorwegianSubtitles: English Producer: Morten Willoch Wærø Produced by Kubrix, Erfaringssentrum (the national interest group for peer support workers) and Rådet for psykisk helse (The Council for Mental Health)  Here you will find information about getting access to the film: https://erfaringssentrum.no/artikkel-detalj/article/1878841 Synopsis   In this documentary, we meet four of the…

Fiction 2024 Norway 30 minutes Language: NorwegianSubtitles: English Director: Morten Hansen Synopsis   In a small and slow village in Norway, it has become a well-known theme that more and more men struggle to talk openly about how they feel and their every-day struggles, and the statistics on depression among men is painful to read for…

Documentary 2025 Norway 28 minutes Language: NorwegianSubtitles: English Made by students at the Norwegian TV-School, University of Inland, Lillehammer. Director: Lydia Diana Kok Producer: Andreas Nikolai NilssenPhotographer: Daniel Miranda RisanEditing/Audio Post-Production: Olav Knardal Post-Production/Sound: Espen ThuvComposer: Siddy Kristiane Vibran Synopsis This short film tells the story of Anniken, a young woman who struggled with self-criticism and…

Documentary 2025 Norway 18 minutes Language: NorwegianSubtitles: English Director: Hannah Nordanger Producer: Synne Fjellheim Wenger The film was made by students at the Norwegian TV-School, University of Inland, Lillehammer Synopsis   In this short film, we meet Heidi, who has now put her ballet career behind her after developing an eating disorder. The first time she…

Video from the 10th Anniversary Celebration 2025 USA 30 minutes Language: EnglishSubtitles: – Filmed by BCTV – Brattleboro Community TV Website: https://innerfire.us/Watch the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PqhOcPR5JU&list=PLDXseAKlG_qnYjQwGLGq2dXABn2WRGsPn Synopsis The video opens with Mitzi Montague Bauer, Chair of Inner Fire’s Board, reflecting on the meaning of the organization’s mission, “the power of choice,” through her personal experience. After her…

Drama based on true story 2015 USA 109 minutes Language: EnglishSubtitles: – Director: Timothy Hines More info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3453052/?ref_=fn_t_2 Watch film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcvKSYt6Koo Short synopsis from IMDb In 1887, 23-year-old reporter Nellie Bly, working for Joseph Pulitzer, feigns mental illness to go undercover in notorious Blackwell’s Island, a mental institution for women, to expose corruption, abuse, and murder.…

Drama based on true story 2014 USA 121 minutes Language: EnglishSubtitles: English Director: Bill Pohlad More info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0903657/ Watch the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUTuoWOtJPc&list=RDUUTuoWOtJPc&start_radio=1 Short synopsis from IMDb In the 60s, Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson struggles with emerging psychosis as he attempts to craft his avant-garde pop masterpiece. In the 80s, he’s a broken, confused man under…

Documentary 2024 USA 79 minutes Language: EnglishSubtitles:  Directors: Julia Greenburg and Dianna Dilworth Films website: https://www.doryprevindoc.com/ The film is only available online in the US here: https://www.pbs.org/show/dory-previn-on-my-way-to-where/ Short synopsis from the films website  “Writing and singing the unvarnished truth about one’s buried secret life experiences is more common today than when Dory Previn wrote brilliant, disturbing,…

Documentary 2024 Norway 72 minutes Language: NorwegianSubtitles: English Director: Ane-Martha Tamnes Hansgård Website: https://www.diagnonsensefilm.com/ Short synopsis from the films website:  DIAGNONSENSE is a self-reflective documentary by director Ane-Martha Tamnes Hansgård, based on her experiences of being diagnosed with a number of mental disorders over a period of fifteen years—a process that began when she was…

Documentary 2017 Norway 88 minutes (Norwegian version) 52 minutes (English TV – version) Language: Norwegian or English Director: Anniken Hoel More info: https://m.imdb.com/it/title/tt6151226/ Watch the Norwegian film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeO6SnfhGIgWatch the English TV – version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ4F_ZF3u9M Summary from IMDb After her sister died suddenly and unexpectedly while being treated with prescription antipsychotics, director Anniken Hoel begins a…

Documentary 2016 USA 82 minutes Language: EnglishSubtitles: English Directors: Phil Borges and Kevin Tomlinson Website: https://crazywisefilm.com/ Watch the film: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/crazywise/ Synopsis from producer  CRAZYWISE follows two young Americans diagnosed with “mental illness.” Adam, 27, suffers devastating side effects from medications before embracing meditation in hopes of recovery. Ekhaya, 32, survives childhood molestation and several suicide attempts…

Documentary 2025 The Netherlands 113 minutes Language: DutchSubtitles: English Director: Maasja Ooms The films website: https://mwthm.ceruttifilm.nl/See also: https://www.ceruttifilm.nl/documentaires/mijnwoordtegenhetmijne/Rent the film: https://pijamafilms.com/watch/mijn-woord-tegen-het-mijne Short synopsis from the producers website How crazy are you when there are voices in your head that give you orders, and you can’t control them? Should you ignore them and suppress them with pills,…

The story of Reshma Valliappan and her journey of eventual triumph over schizophrenia. Embodying a controversial and contrarian view towards recovery, it proposes that the only treatment that can work is the one wherein the ‘patient’ is encouraged and empowered to become an equal partner in the process of healing.

Drama comedy 2025 Sweden 100 minutes Language: SwedishSubtitles: English Director: Lisa Langseth More info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33269715/ Rent the film on SFanytime: https://www.sfanytime.com/no/movie/the-dance-clubRent on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI18r973fVI Short synopsis from producer  Why do so many people suffer when we could actually be happy? At the Care psychiatric clinic, profit takes precedence over people, and more patients mean greater…

Documentary 2017 Norway 38 minutes Language: NorwegianSubtitles: English Director: Inger Lene Stordrange Website: https://www.sommerfugleffekten.no/filmer Watch the film: https://vimeo.com/260720350 Synopsis from producer This is the story of a young girl with a shattered self-image who lost 10 years of her life. Why did it develop so seriously? Was it necessary for her to experience what she herself…

Documentary 2020 Norway 21 minutes Language: NorwegianSubtitles: English Director: Melanie Ekholdt Website: https://www.forelskaigalskap.no/en/ Short synopsis from the films website  A young man’s struggle with ADHD; his portal to drug use, experiences a metamorphic coming of age through the creative energy of rap music. “Why do I judge myself, when the whole world is already doing…

Documentary / fiction 2023 Norway 102 minutes Language: NorwegianSubtitles: English Director: Ellen Ugelstad Website: https://www.twentyonepictures.com/recovery-channel Synopsis from the films website  In *The Recovery Channel*, director Ellen Ugelstad takes us inside a fictional news channel that delves deeply into mental health, human rights, and coercion. With this as its starting point, the film sheds light on…

Millions of people worldwide are physically dependent on common psychiatric drugs. Although these may help some people in the short term, they also cause dangerous side effects and damage with long-term use, which drug companies have concealed from both doctors and patients. “Medicating Normal” follows a newlywed couple, a female war veteran, a waitress, and…

Daniel B. Fisher MD, PhD, a well-known psychiatrist from Massachusetts, USA, shares his life’s journey, from psychosis, loss of liberty , hospitalisation, catatonia and through his recovery journey to the development of emotional CPR, a new way to connect heart to heart. Dr Fisher shares his belief that the psychiatric industry is in the grip…

In a world gone crazy, a young woman discovers that her madness is a fierce and powerful gift that makes her more fully human. Drunk on Too Much Life is an intimate and powerful documentary following the filmmaker’s 21-year-old daughter’s mind-opening journey from locked-down psych wards and diagnostic labels towards expansive worlds of creativity, connection…