Mental Filmness

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 brain. IMPORTANT NOTE: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are uncertain of the final status of the presentation of Mental Filmness. We plan to host a virtual event on the Eventive.org platform just as we did last year, no matter what happens; if we have the opportunity by that point, we would like to host a small gathering in Chicago as well. We always try to plan the festival around World Mental Health Day, which is on Sunday, October 10th, 2021 this year, so we will plan to kick off on October 9th, 2021. The virtual festival will run until November 1st, 2021. We ask for 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 helps cut down on irrelevant entries and offsets nominal costs like printing programs and streaming fees, 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. Filmmakers will be given the opportunity to participate in a 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.