A Monthly Mental Health Film Series
Wednesday, December 13, 2023 7:00pm
Vancouver Premiere! A touching account of the complexities of aging and the burden of care experienced by family members who take on the responsibility. Best Directing – International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) 2022. Post-screening discussion with Amanda Brown, RSW
Wednesday, November 15, 2023
USA 2023 Sophie Compton, Reuben Hamlyn 80 min. DCP
Vancouver Premiere!
A young engineering student has her life turned upside down after her face is digitally altered to appear on the body of a porn actress. Post-screening discussion with Dr. Jason Winters and Dr. Carolin Klein.
Wednesday, October 18, 2023 7:00pm
Canada 2021 Director: Michael McGowan 103 min PG
Based on the novel by preeminent Canadian author Miriam Toews, All My Puny Sorrows is a family drama about two sisters leading very different lives. Yoli (Alison Pill), a struggling writer, and Elf (Sarah Gadon), a successful concert pianist, are each uniquely impacted by the suicide of their father. Post-screening discussion with Dr. Derryck Smith and Dr. Tyler Black, facilitated by Dr. Alison Freeland, MD, FRCPC, DFCPA. Co-sponsored by the Canadian Psychiatric Association
Wednesday, September 20, 2023 7:00pm
New Zealand 2021. Director Michelle Savill
100 min
Wednesday, May 17, 2023 7:00pm
Vancouver Premiere – Lene Marie Fossen’s self portraits will break your heart. Beautifully composed and artfully presented, they are nevertheless photographs of a young woman in the throes of a long and drawn-out process of self-starvation. Post-screening discussion with Dr. Seena Grewal
Wednesday June 14, 2023 7:00 pm
A veteran of ten years work in the DTES, Colin Askey was known and trusted. Using a fly-on-the-wall observational approach, his film portrays the community members who work at Overdose Prevention Society in the DTES with the same clear-eyed compassion as those who use its services. Post-screening discussion with Sarah Blyth and Amy Evans.
Wednesday, February 8, 2023 7:00pm
Vancouver Premiere! A unique depiction of the immigrant experience, American school gun violence and mental health. More than that, it strives to explore the complexities of a mother’s love.
Naomi Brady, Austin Chronicle. Post-screening discussion with Dr. Paige Zhang, an emergency and consultation-liaison psychiatrist at Vancouver General Hospital.
Wednesday, January 18, 2023 7:00 pm
A tour de force performance from celebrated Polish actress Dorota Pomykała as Mira anchors this heartbreaking film that asks (and answers) the question, “What would compel an unassuming 60-ish wife and mother to rob a bank in broad daylight with a small kitchen knife?” Post-screening discussion with Dr Brian Worth, a Vancouver-based Registered Psychologist.
Wednesday, December 14, 2022
Every year in France, close to 100,000 people are placed under psychiatric care without their consent. In an attempt to find a better balance between the protection of patient’s rights and the need for treatment, a new mental health law was enacted there in 2013 whereby all patients involuntarily admitted to a psychiatric hospital must appear before a judge within 12 days. Informed by medical records and a doctor’s recommendations, the judge conducts these interviews within the hospital itself, meeting face to face with patients who plead their cases with varying degrees of desperation and lucidity. Given full access to film these encounters for the first time, legendary filmmaker and photographer Raymond Depardon trains his empathetic lens on the place where psychiatry and justice meet, giving a voice to those who have gone unheard. Post-screening discussion with Dr. Ken Chow, Doug LePard, David Mossop, and Dale Pope.
Wednesday, November 16, 2022 7:00pm
The debut feature of Australian filmmaker Jessica M. Thompson, who now lives in Los Angeles, is a raw and revelatory film about the aftermath of a sexual assault, told entirely from the victim’s perspective. Bonnie (Stephanie Beatriz), a young architect in Brooklyn, is raped by a stranger while walking home alone one night. Post-screening discussion with Parisa Jahan and Ariana Barer.