Mental Filmness is a Chicago-based film festival highlighting works that portray a realistic depiction of mental illness. The festival is dedicated to breaking the stigma surrounding mental illness by sharing stories and promoting empathy for those who live with these chronic psychiatric conditions. We are especially interested in challenging stereotypes, showing different perspectives on mental illness, and informing and enlightening the general public about mental health.
We define “mental illness” as a broad umbrella that encompasses any psychiatric diagnosis, emotional disorder, addiction, or other disorder of the mind.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Due to the rapid spread of COVID-19 in Chicago, which is in the process of transitioning out of a shelter-in-place order, Mental Filmness will be a streaming event this year. We are planning around the same dates, around World Mental Health Day, from October 9th through October 11th, 2020. Please consider if you would like to be part of a streaming event now before you submit.
This year we are instituting a small fee of $10 to submit your film. Mental Filmness is *not* a money-making venture, but we learned our first year that this may cut down on irrelevant entries and help offset nominal costs like catering and printing programs, and may possibly help in flying out visiting filmmakers. All leftover money will be donated to NAMI. However, if you feel you cannot afford the submission fee, please write to Sharon@mentalfilmness.com to request a waiver. Our main goal is to increase awareness and understanding of mental illness and to be open to everyone. The most important thing is to have these films seen by an audience for that purpose. Visiting filmmakers will be given the opportunity to participate in an audience Q & A.
By participating in Mental Filmness, you will be an exciting part of the continuation of Chicago's first film festival based around mental health.
The Facebook event is here: https://www.facebook.com/events/612330842556372
Our festival does plan to give out awards at the festival based on some of our objectives. There will be a Stigma Breaker award for the film we feel most effectively battles the stigma of mental illness. There will be a Realism Award for the film we feel most realistically depicts its condition. There will be an Empathy Award for the film that we best feel promotes empathy for mental illness. There will be no cash value for these awards.