The Last Shore

Documenting the Witch Path is a documentary film that is testing the limits of three young documentary filmmakers. They find out about a place called the Witch Path that leads out to the lake known as the Witch Lake. It's where they drowned innocent women in the 17th century because they were accused of witchery. All because the people blindly listened to the priests. Nowadays, the path and the lake is closed off by the township. No one wants to answer why, but these filmmakers will find out the horrifying truth about it.

Schizophrenia. It may be one word, but it immediately conjures up multiple connotations. Mad. Incurable. Violent. Suicidal. Chemical imbalances. Crazy. A lifelong condition. Inevitable dependency on Medicines. Dark. Terrible. 'A Drop of Sunshine' challenges these notions. It questions the mainstream view of the condition and seeks alternate ways of recovering from it. Through the powerful story of its young and gutsy protagonist, Reshma Valiappan, it seeks to give viewers a new vocabulary to address the stigmatized mental illness. The film proposes that the only treatment method that can work in Schizophrenia is one where the so-called 'patient' is encouraged and empowered to become an equal partner in the process of healing.

What if, instead of bombs, we dropped watermelons? Dreamy and hopeful, this animated short sweeps us up into a colourful world where layers of reality and creativity intersect. Our protagonist navigates through it all seamlessly, and in the process shows us the importance of imagination.

An intimate exploration of a Sydney-based artist Dyan Tai’s quest to create and celebrate queer Asian spaces through the transformative power of their art.

In the 1980s, writer, poet, radio personality and football enthusiast Franck Venaille is diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. He decides to travel the length of the Scheldt river, to dip his hands in its source, and brings back the long epic poem La Descente de l'Escaut. Today, the disease has progressed, but Venaille still spends much of his time working in the study where he wrote the text. Je me suis en marche is both a road movie weaving together the poem, Venaille now and during his journey, and a documentary adaptation of the epic odyssey of a sick man retracing a river across 450 kilometres.

Western culture treats mental disorders primarily through biomedical psychiatry, but filmmakers Phil Borges and Kevin Tomlinson reveal a growing movement of professionals and survivors who are forging alternative treatments that focus on recovery and turning mental “illness” into a positive transformative experience.

Staged as a series of voiceover sessions, written with gloriously off-balanced precision and dipped in the color green, THE FUTURE TENSE unfolds as a poignant tale of tales, exploring the filmmakers’ own experiences in aging, parenting, mental illness, along with the brutal history that lies submerged beneath Ireland’s heavy, moist earth.

A film about the unprecedented Swiss grassroots movement of regular citizens who rise to aid thousands of refugees stranded at the European borders. In rich and safe Switzerland people from all backgrounds leave their regular life behind to support people in need. There is a Swiss farmer and his wife who keep cows in the Swiss Alps, a former commander of the Swiss Army, an elder rich lady residing at the lakeside, and a successful comedian and entertainer. These unexperienced volunteers take on an adventure that will change their lives forever.

A boy migrates from Guerrero to Colima in Mexico, guided by the illusion of his parents, who want him to study high school. Nevertheless, the inequality barriers force him to work as a sugarcane harvester.

Four-time Emmy winner John Kastner was granted unprecedented access to the Brockville facility for 18 months, allowing 46 patients and 75 staff to share their experiences with stunning frankness. The result is two remarkable documentaries: the first, NCR: Not Criminally Responsible, premiered at Hot Docs in the spring of 2013 and follows the story of a violent patient released into the community. The second film, Out of Mind, Out of Sight, returns to the Brockville Mental Health Centre to profile four patients, two men and two women, as they struggle to gain control over their lives so they can return to a society that often fears and demonizes them.

Faceless is a documentary film about the workings of an inpatient psychiatry unit, seen through the eyes of both the patients trying to get well and the staff trying to help them.