International Film Awards (2009)
The SMHAFF 2009 film competition provided a platform for filmmakers who choose to interpret mental health in its broadest sense in their work, as well as activists and campaigners for change who use film as an effective way of getting their message across.
The festival also experimented with exploring film as a way for people to articulate and communicate their own experiences. The team were fascinated to see the work that was being produced, and committed to bringing it to a national and international platform.
Jury Prize
Irene
Lindsay Goodall & Kat Hebden (Scotland, 2008) 10m
Irene is an engaging personal story about the filmmaker’s 92 year old grandmother and the daughter who cares for her. While living with Alzheimer’s and decreasing physical ability, Irene’s feisty personality still shines through, often leading to laughter, tension and heartache.
© Scottish Documentary Institute
Award Winners
Documentary & Factual
Winner
Lifting the Lid: Men Who Survive Sexual Abuse as Children
SAMH & Pilton Video
Scotland, 2009
40m
Three Scottish male survivors of childhood sexual abuse tell their stories. They describe being abused, the impact it had on them as young men and adults, the responses they got when seeking help, the effect of being listened to and their recovery.
Documentary & Factual
Highly Commended
Posts
Karen Machin & Jez Kerr
UK, 2009
3m
The young people in this short creative documentary describe their hopes and worries about housing at a very stressful time in their lives when their estate is about to be demolished. Music by Jez Kerr (A Certain Ratio).
Documentary & Factual
Highly Commended
Over My Dad’s Body
Taliya Finkel
Israel, 2008
70m
Filmmaker Taliya Finkel goes on a fascinating journey in order to investigate her late father’s claims that her uncle is an undercover agent sent to Israel by the old Soviet regime. Guided by a private investigator she travels from Israel to the Ukraine and back in a desperate quest to find proof of her father’s story and to examine the thin line that separates imagination and reality.
Animation
Winner
Over and Over (and Over) Again
Mosaic Films
UK, 2008
4m
Discover how an everyday routine like leaving the house for school can become the worst nightmare for a teenage boy or how numbers can take over a young mind to the point of driving behaviour and influencing unwanted action. With Danny’s testimony, we gain a revelatory insight into the struggles of some teenagers suffering from OCD.
Animation
Highly Commended
Nimbus
Junction 15 Productions
UK, 2009
6m
This enigmatic animation is a celebration of empowerment and intervention. Using a simple wire puppet, an atmospheric soundtrack and audio interviews, the film presents the world many users are faced with, their thoughts and feelings, and for some, the slow journey towards recovery.
Drama
Winner
Floating Is Easy
Graeme McAulay
Scotland, 2008
14m
Alison has devoted the last three years of her life to caring for her mother, who has Alzheimer’s. When she wakes one morning to find the front door of her house open and her patient gone, Alison fails to raise the alarm.
Drama
Highly Commended
Home
Debs Paterson
UK, 2008
10m
Max is a teenager returning home to his family after a failed suicide attempt. As he has to face up to the consequences of his actions on his family, so the family have to face their own feelings on his return.
Comedy
Winner
Shed Convention
Paul Allen & Vivien Müller-Rommel
UK, 2008
10m
Ed, a depressed health and safety inspector, finds instructions for a time travelling kettle at a recycling plant. He builds it. And it works. Travelling in time Ed has to work out how the device works, realising health and safety might not rock his world after all.
Submit Your Film
The Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival (SMHAF) will return from 19 October to 8 November 2026 for its 20th year.
Film submissions are open until Friday 17 April 2026. Find full guidelines and eligibility criteria on our FilmFreeway listing.
