Go Mental! 2022
In May 2022, the Go Mental! International Short Film Festival ran for its second year. This time as a hybrid event from May 20th to the 29th of 2022.
On May 20 and 21, the festival presented 12 authentic mental health short films during two screenings at the Berlin independent cinema ACUD. Among other issues, short films on depression, bipolar disorder, borderline, self-worth, and eating disorders were shown. The two evenings were also live-streamed on Movies Everywhere.
From May 22 to June 2, an entire selection of 15 short films was available online on Movies Everywhere. Here you can watch the live streams again.
ALL 15 SELECTED FILMS
THANKS FOR COMING IN
Director: Marco Gentile
Country of Origin: United States
Runtime: 11:30 min.
Mental Health Topic: Eating Disorder
This narrative short is an autobiographical quirky dramedy about male body dysmorphia and the casual brutalities of the casting process.
I’ll CALL YOU IN A FEW
Director: Carmen Sarieddine
Country of Origin: Lebanon
Runtime: 13:30 min.
Mental Health Topic: Suicide
During his night shift break, Karim, a suicide hotline operator, is in the toilet talking to his best friend Nour who is having a breakdown over the phone.
AMANZE
Director: Lucy Hawes
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Runtime: 08:52 min.
Mental Health Topic: Dementia / Art as a coping mechanism
From Harlesden to Luton, we are transported through time, peeling back the layers of Ronald Amaze and his incredible life.
HOLD ME DOWN
Director: Caolan Flood
Country of Origin: Germany
Runtime: 04:28 min.
Mental Health Topic: Anxiety
This is a dance film about two young men struggling to cope in isolation.
APNOIA
Director: Vanessa Payri
Country of Origin: Canada
Runtime: 15:00 min.
Mental Health Topic: Abuse & Trauma
This documentary short is a testimony polyphony of sexual assault survivors.
MENTAL ABUSE MATTERS
Director: Lucy Baxter
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Runtime: 04:26 min.
Mental Health Topic: Abuse
The Mental Abuse Matters animation explores emotional abuse in an intimate relationship and the phenomenon of “Gaslighting”, where the abuser dislocates the victim from reality and causes them to question their judgment and sanity.
TOO LATE
Director: Kinga Syrek
Country of Origin: Poland
Runtime: 15:34 min.
Mental Health Topic: Parental Heritage / Addiction
The protagonist of the animated film is Edie Sedgwick, a model, actress, and star of Andy Warhol's films. The film, however, is not about her relationship with Warhol, but the relationship with her toxic father.
VISUAL POETRY: SELF LOVE
Director: Sofia Monzerratt
Country of Origin: United States
Runtime: 02:10 min.
Mental Health Topic: Self-Worth
The personal journey of discovering and internalizing self-worth.
MAYFLY
Director: Joel Ängeby
Country of Origin: Sweden
Runtime: 19:44 min.
Mental Health Topic: Borderline Personality Disorder
Lisa is trying to put her life back together, after a breakup with her girlfriend and a following failed attempt suicide.
JUST IN CASE
Director: April Kelley
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Runtime: 14:00 min.
Mental Health Topic: Bipolar Personality Disorder
Rachel lives with bipolar disorder and the invisibility of her condition has become all too real for both herself and her father.
GOLDFISH IN THE HAMSTER WHEEL
Director: Christoph Amort
Country of Origin: Austria
Runtime: 13:04 min.
Mental Health Topic: Depression
A young woman suffering from depression tries to solve her unbearable carousel of thoughts within herself.
THE SOUND
Director: Antony Petrou
Country of Origin: Cyprus
Runtime: 15:00 min.
Mental Health Topic: Suicide & Mental Health Stigma
One day, out of nowhere, Beth’s fragile mother begins to hear a mysterious sound that nobody else can hear. The Sound quickly becomes an overwhelming source of pain and frustration, driving Beth’s mother to the brink.
INHERITACE
Director: John Marinopoulos
Country of Origin: Greece
Runtime: 10:00 min.
Mental Health Topic: Parental Heritage
Having just arrived from her family home in the country, a young woman grapples with the sinister forces that might have followed.
THE DARK MONSTER
Director: Patricia Beckmann Wells, Peter Thomas Wells
Country of Origin: United States
Runtime: 02:00 min.
Mental Health Topic: Anxiety
A young boy falls prey to a demon who changes his life. - Peter Wells, 9 years old, wrote the original story as an effort to quell his increased fear of monsters initiated by the pandemic.
