International Film Awards (2014)
The Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival 2014 saw twelve winners selected from 150 entries to the international competition. Among them were three Scottish filmmakers, while entries were received from as far afield as Australia, Canada, Iran, Thailand and the USA, as well as from Europe, Ireland and the UK.
Chosen by a panel of mental health and film experts, the winning films cover a wide range of issues, from the mental well-being of people living with Down syndrome, autism, to the mental strain caused by postpartum psychosis, dementia, sexual abuse and war.
SMHAFF film curator and film producer Richard Warden said:
We were impressed by the diversity of entries to this year’s film awards, and the honesty on display in the submissions was both moving and inspiring. It was an honour to watch so many brave pieces of filmmaking during the selection process.
Amongst the Scottish winners was Sitar Rose, who tackles the difficult subject of childhood sexual abuse, in her film Tell Tale Signs, Highly Commended in the Arts and Mental Health category. IIona Kacieja’s film Red Dust, Highly Commended in the Short Documentary category, looks at the mental effects of the red dust pollution caused by the now closed Ravenscgraig Steelworks in Lanarkshire.
Claire Lamond’s stop-motion animation, Sea Front, was her second winning entry into our film awards. With music from Karine Polwart, it is set in Kirkcaldy during WWI and tells the story of the mental damage caused to a local soldier’s and his family.
Claire, who was introduced to film making as a mental health service user, inspiring her to study Animation at Edinburgh Collage of Art, said:
By creating such a fantastic, meaningful programme every year SMHAFF generates a political happening from intimate artistic responses, reflecting and describing real emotional existence. This is art and film at their most powerful.
Jury Prize
Here One Day
Kathy Leichter (USA, 2012) 76m
Joint Winner
When filmmaker Kathy Leichter moved back into her childhood home after her mother’s suicide, she discovered a hidden box of audiotapes. Sixteen years passed before Kathy had the courage to delve into this trove, where she unearthed details about every aspect of her mother’s life, including struggles with bi-polar disorder. The result is an emotional and candid film about the reverberations of suicide for those left behind.
It’s really an opportunity to create conversations about mental health and suicide. These issues are so taboo in our society…We keep these things so quiet and, yet, the more we learn, the more we share these experiences, some of the stigma melts away.
Kathy Leichter
My mum had these incredible gifts and I want to talk about her. It’s through talking and conversation that we’re going to change attitudes about mental health and suicide.
Today Is Monday
Owen Davies (UK, 2013) 24m
The words ‘Today is Monday’, written on a whiteboard in a long-stay hospital unit, help patients to remember it is the first day of the week. These three words also imply a constant new beginning in the lives of the patients, carers and staff. Raising important questions on perception of reality and autonomy, the film prompts debate on how to best care for older people with mental health issues.
We were looking into best care for people with dementia in hospital and we trialled a model on a ward. And we wanted to show how it felt. It was quite risky for us as academics [to make a film] but Owen turned it into an incredible documentary.
Pippa Foster, University of Nottingham
Award Winners
Mid-Length Documentary
Winner
Today is Monday
Owen Davies
UK, 2013
24m
The words ‘Today is Monday’, written on a whiteboard in a long-stay hospital unit, help patients to remember it is the first day of the week. These three words also imply a constant new beginning in the lives of the patients, carers and staff. Raising important questions on perception of reality and autonomy, the film prompts debate on how to best care for older people with mental health issues.
Mid-Length Documentary
Highly Commended
Tell Tale Signs
Sitar Rose
UK, 2014
30m
In this brave and hard-hitting film, adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse share intimate reflections about the effects of childhood sexual abuse, the challenges they face in disclosing to professionals and how this difficult past shapes their experience as parents and partners.
Short Documentary
Winner
Red White Green (Piros Fehér Zöld)
Tareck Raffoul
Hungary, 2013
9m
This poignant film observes a woman in her 70s desperately trying to find a care home for her son with Down’s syndrome. Tender mother-and-son moments are juxtaposed with her anxieties around this difficult decision, making for an intensely engaging and moving experience.
Short Documentary
Highly Commended
Red Dust
Ilona Kacieja
UK, 2013
16m
It started with an observation of faces in the towns and villages of Lanarkshire: to the filmmaker, they looked sad and unhealthy. In fact, many people do suffer from cancer and other physical disorders that are linked to ‘red dust’ pollution that emanated from the long-closed Ravenscraig Steelworks. But it is clear that the legacy of post-industrialisation has challenged minds as well as bodies.
Long Documentary
Winner
Here One Day
Kathy Leichter
USA, 2012
76m
When filmmaker Kathy Leichter moved back into her childhood home after her mother’s suicide, she discovered a hidden box of audiotapes. Sixteen years passed before Kathy had the courage to delve into this trove, where she unearthed details about every aspect of her mother’s life, including struggles with bipolar disorder. The result is an emotional and candid film about the reverberations of suicide for those left behind.
Long Documentary
Highly Commended
The Children of Sisyphus
(Les Enfants de Sisyphe)
Didier Minne
Belgium, 2011
55m
In a South Belgian day nursery for children with autism and psychosis, the attendees are being prepared for specialised schools. Over the course of one year, the children’s joys and fears are captured, and their developments and regressions are followed. The results are not always what one hopes to see, but they are always enlightening.
Drama
Winner
The Hard Dream
Behrouz Bagheri
Iran, 2013
12m
A lovingly-created robot reveals something important about our struggles with mundane everyday life. Reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times, the film tells a melancholic contemporary tale of striving and repression which sees physical problems contributing to mental health issues and vice versa.
Feature Length Documentary
Highly Commended
Lizard Girl
Lynsey Miller
UK, 2013
15m
Lizard Girl delves into the world of 10-year-old Sam and her daily struggle with Asperger’s syndrome. Sam finds it difficult to make friends and would rather spend time with her chameleon than play with other children. But after becoming entranced by Callum and his skateboarding friends she is drawn out of her lonely world.
Arts and Mental Health
Joint Winner
Out Door
Stephen Johnston and Edward Summerton
UK, 2014
15m
A young man lives ‘off the radar’ in rural Scotland. Although his mental health problems once led to sedation and time in a psychiatric hospital, he now is active as an artist. Out Door suggests that creativity can not only be life changing, but also lifesaving.
Arts and Mental Health
Joint Winner
Images of Bedlam
Gareth Rubin
UK, 2013
10m
Examining the interaction between mental health and artistic expression, the film takes us to world’s oldest psychiatric institution, the Bethlem Royal Hospital in south London. Today, it utilises innovative treatments for people with mental illness, such as therapeutic art.
Multimedia
Winner
Sea Front
Clare Lamond
UK, 2014
8m
Set in a slightly-imagined Kirkcaldy during WWI, the film deals with a soldier’s family battling with their loss, grief, longing, and hope as they await his return from across the North Sea. Stop-animation, music and voice are brought together in the service of a heart-warming narrative.
Multimedia
Highly Commended
Unravelling Eve
Joan Molloy
UK, 2014
16m
A unique film, Unravelling Eve presents nine women’s individual experience with postpartum psychosis. Exploring new paths of representation, it manages to be a positive and beautiful work about what is a long, dark and frightening experience for those afflicted.
Read More
You can read an article documenting the International Film Awards 2014, including interviews with the winning filmmakers here.
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.
