SMHAF Film Programme

The Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival returns to the CCA for its annual film programme. Join us for our International Film Awards, followed by a weekend of screenings, discussions and workshops.

Tickets for all screenings are Pay What You Can: £8 / £6 / £4 / £2 / FREE. SDH captions are provided for all screenings, and BSL interpretation for selected events. 

Made in Scotland

Shorts: This eclectic selection showcases titles by talented filmmakers based in Scotland. All rooted in personal experiences, they explore themes of neurodiversity, cultural identity, body image, stigma, discrimination and poverty, giving an insight into the issues that most affect our mental health.

Includes Q&A with Marta Massa (What Remains), Steven Fraser (Prosopagnosia), Maria Viola Craig (Killing Myself Laughing), Sean Lìonadh (Too Rough), Douglas King (Do No Harm) and Alysia Maciejowska (producer Bahar & Do No Harm).

8-9.50pm, CCA, 15+, BSL Interpretation, Book Here

Saturday 14 May

Beautiful Minds

Shorts: How can we better understand our unique realities? We explore how people find meaning in their voices and visions, through distinctive portraits of a Brazilian poet and activist, a survivor of human trafficking living with dissociative identity disorder, and three people rebuilding their lives after treatment for psychosis.

Includes Q&A with Guen Murroni (Nice to Meet You All) and Jerry Allan (Subject, Blue Monday)

12-2pm, CCA, 15+, Book Here

A Bag Full of Purses

Leonardo Petralia, Argentina, 2021, 83m, International Premiere

Documentary: Performance artist Celia works with rubbish her mother accumulates compulsively to develop a transformative artistic project. In documenting this journey of creative expression and discovery, director Leonardo Petralia explores the intersection between art and life.

Includes virtual Q&A with director Leonardo Petralia

2-3.50pm, CCA, 15+, Book Here

Who Cares?

Shorts: What happens to young people when they face a lack of care and support in society, due to issues like inadequate care, poverty, racism and discrimination? These films look at the devastating impact that failing to provide social security for people experiencing mental ill health can have.

Includes Q&A with Léa Luiz de Oliveira (A La Folie), Michelle Jones (Uncle), Ella Greenwood (Why Wouldn’t I Be?) and Heather Andrews (In Plain Sight – Part 1: In Erms of Clay)

4-5.50pm, CCA, 15+, BSL Interpretation Book Here

Lessons in Temperament

Mitchell Cushman, Canada, 2021, 97m, International Premiere

Documentary: Adapted from an award-winning live theatrical memoir, this documentary-dramatic hybrid uses piano tuning as a storytelling device to destigmatise and humanise mental illness.

It examines the personal stories of musician James Smith and his three older brothers as they navigate living with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Includes virtual Q&A with Mitchell Cushman and James Smith

5.55-7.55pm, CCA, 18+, Book Here

13-16 May, Online, Rent Here

Charm Circle

Nira Burstein, USA, 2021, 78m, Scottish Premiere

Documentary: Winner of the Audience Award at Sheffield DocFest, Charm Circle is an intimate portrait of an eccentric New York family navigating the chaos that divides them.

Filmmaker Nira Burstein returns to her childhood home to confront her tumultuous upbringing and explore whether she and her two sisters can reconnect with her parents.

Includes Q&A with Nira Burstein

8-10pm, CCA, 15+, Book Here

Sunday 15 May

Wood and Water

Jonas Bak, Germany, France, Hong Kong, 2021, 73m, Scottish Premiere

Drama: As she enters retirement, a mother leaves behind her solitary life in rural Germany and memories of a once perfect family life and travels to protest-ridden Hong Kong, a place that has kept her son away from her for many years.

Includes Q&A with Jonas Bak and producer Charlotte Lelong, in partnership with Goethe Institut

5-7.05, GFT, 12+, Book Here