Actor, director and writer, Dr Daniel Widdowson, explores the highs, lows, benefits and dangers of the entertainment industry's effects on actors and their mental health.
Social & External
Self
A documentary tracking the daily lives, struggles and triumphs of some young Irish people living with schizophrenia. They speak openly about what it's like to live with such a severe mental health disorder and struggle with delusional thoughts and the internal voices that are so associated with schizophrenia.
The Bridge is a controversial documentary that shows people jumping to their death from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco - the world's most popular suicide destination. Interviews with the victims' loved ones describe their lives and mental health.
Mindfulness is the art of simply being present. From Oprah to Phil Jackson to Anderson Cooper, it's an art practiced by some of the world's most successful people. Brought to the west by Zen Buddhist Monk Thich Nhat Hanh, who was once nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., mindfulness has recently gained mainstream popularity in both the media and in mental health treatment. This film features insights from Deepak Chopra, Thich Nhat Hanh, Sharon Stone, Oliver Stone, Cesar Milan, and many more. Watch it and learn how to embrace mindfulness in your own life!
José Corbacho and Catalina Solivellas met thirty years ago sharing stages, dressing rooms, laughter and also some sadness. They they began to be aware of how therapeutic theater can be in difficult times. Years later, and inspired by Don Quixote, they decided to put together a free version of the chivalric novel, together with Mallorcan amateur actors and actresses with a mental health diagnosis. The documentary proposes a journey in which José, Catalina and the wonderful company created for the occasion, share stages, dressing rooms, laughter and also some tears.
Coming back during Winter, Alex Powell explores both the places and personal connections found in his hometown and how they've changed. “Guide to a Midwest Hometown” explores what makes the barren places at home feel sentimental and special, and the good and bad feelings that come when being back home. Inspired by "How To With John Wilson".
An urgent, timely and compelling portrait of Hollywood icon Greta Garbo, whose fame, isolation and loneliness still captures us.
Seven months after the death of Washington State quarterback Tyler Hilinski, his parents cope with their grief and memories.
When Rasmus was 15, his mother and siblings moved from the island Bornholm and left Rasmus with his mentally ill father. Influenced by his father's insecurity, anger and failure, Rasmus chooses to move from Bornholm at the age of 18. Two years later, Rasmus is trying to see if a reunion is possible, but in order to forgive and create a new relationship, father and son must go on a common journey that requires extreme courage and determination to succeed.
Big Boys Don't Cry' follows Joe Marler as he discusses his own struggles and learns new methods of managing mental wellbeing. The England and Harlequins player has opened up about his battles with mental health during his private life and his time playing rugby on the international stage. The documentary follows Marler as he travels around the UK to open up the conversation around mental health challenges and to learn about how people manage with their mental wellbeing - from taking the plunge in cold water swimming and getting involved in singing in a choir along the way.
VPRO icon Wim Brands died on April 4, 2016. He was known to the general public as a presenter of the VPRO Boeken program and also closer, with six collections of poetry to his name. This documentary about his life and work, built entirely from archive material, pays tribute to this television personality. A portrait in which attention is also paid to his complicated relationship with death. With a.o. Karl Ove Knausgård, David Sedaris, Ellen Deckwitz and Pieter Boskma. Brands' work merges with his rich inner life and that he chose death at the age of 56 casts a shadow over everything.
Stooge is a feature documentary about Robert Pargiter, Iggy Pop's No1 fan. It covers the three years leading up to his 50th birthday when he tries to track his hero down in a final absolution. His journey has taken him all over the world in search of redemption after years of struggling with addiction, of coping with depression, and of celebrating the communal lust that is Rock'n Roll.
Thoughts, sometimes just numbers, reach us from offscreen almost like music, like a mantra or a prayer. What we see are circular fragments from familiar spaces: a mirror, a magnifying glass. A day like any other day: without medication, or perhaps better with? A film like the investigation of an uncertainty principle: do we really see better with a magnifying glass? A face scratched out of the family album: the gap is draped with flowers and cut-out pictures of clothes and finally filled again by a drawing.
This moving film for Stand Up To Cancer follows The Wanted's Tom Parker as he and his family learn to live with Tom's brain tumour diagnosis and Tom arranges a star-studded charity concert.
Hunting Bigfoot (2021) A film that skillfully melds the worlds of narrative feature and documentary to capture this portrait of a broken man obsessively pursuing personal and professional redemption in a world where many of those close to him think he's crazy.
Starring Sigmund Freud is a video memento for Sigmund Freud's little-known film career. Based on an essay John Menick published in Frieze in 2011, the video collects the dozens of appearances that the character of Sigmund Freud has made on small and big screens. After the 1950s, when pill vials replaced analytic couches, the father of psychoanalysis found a second career impersonating himself in everything from a John Huston clunker to a Star Trek episode. The video suggests that maybe it is in front of the camera, alongside surgically enhanced starlets and CGI chimeras, that “Herr Doktor” will find his final resting place. This video was produced by the Kadist Foundation and commissioned by dOCUMENTA (13).
Rat Brain is a documentary that highlights Dr. John D. Douglass and his team's research at Seattle Pacific University on chronic stress' neurological impact, striving to uncover its link to suicidal behavior. Their work navigates ethical dilemmas while aiming to showcase vital insights into mental health and suicide prevention.
Under pressure to continue a winning tradition in American tennis, Mardy Fish faced mental health challenges that changed his life on and off the court.
A grieving father seeks answers after his 14-year-old son kills himself. He uncovers painful truths about the lives of teens, the impact of unfettered access to internet and social media, and the shocking rise of depression among America’s youth.
Told through the eyes of an Australian news reporter, Eammon Ashton-Atkinson, who moved to the UK to escape depression, the documentary, follows 3 characters on their journey to overcome their struggles as the club competes against 60 other gay clubs in the Bingham Cup in Amsterdam – the World Cup of gay rugby.