What About Petey?

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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.

A homeless man with schizophrenia slowly embraces antipsychotic medication under Hawaii's only willing psychiatrist and a court mandate, while a man in recovery offers rare insight into mental illness as he fights to reclaim stability.

The first time Regina tried to kill herself, she was 5 years old. Now she's 45 and hell-bent on trying to live.

Americans of various walks of live share their experience of schizophrenia.

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.

Recovering from mental illness is a hard step to take, but what does it feel like to take this step?

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.

The lives of Jeff, Lauren and Lloyd—three very different people who share one common experience—have been transformed by speaking up for mental health. These inspiring stories depict what mental health in America really looks like and highlights just how important it is to speak up and seek help.

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.

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.

In January 2017, a video showing a young Gambian man named Pateh Sabally drowning in the waters of Venice’s Grand Canal went viral on social networks. From the shore, passers-by could be heard insulting him, rather than attempting to help. 4,000 kilometres away, the voices and faces of his family tell the story that preceded this tragedy, the story behind the images.

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It's a sensitive, moving doc chronicling the life of Tétrault's brother Philip , a Montreal poet, musician and diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic. A promising athlete as a child, Philip began experiencing mood swings in his early 20s. His extended family, including his daughter, share their conflicted feelings love, guilt, shame, anger with the camera. They want to make sure he's safe, but how much can they take?

Initially airing on HBO's "America Undercover" series, this riveting documentary focuses on three families shattered by the psychiatric disorder of schizophrenia. Subjects "Bob," "Missy" and "Steven" have lived for over a decade with schizophrenia. The film documents the difficult day-to-day existence of both those afflicted with this order and the families searching for answers to their loved ones' suffering. This film also shows the varied and variably successful treatment methods for each of the subjects—one is placed in a group home, one is placed in an institution, and one is cared for at home. The documentary was critically acclaimed for its compassionate treatment of mental illness.

A group of youths discuss their experiences with mental health in an interview setting, looking at their childhood, education, family and friends.

The story of who psychiatrists are today, what they do, and what they value has been told by almost everyone but them. Psychiatrists are notoriously private; cautious about revealing personal information, and noticeably absent in the media. What has been the consequence of this? If you don’t tell your story, someone else will tell it for you. Mental illness is the number one cause of disability worldwide, however many patients still fear coming to see a psychiatrist – that they will be overmedicated, not listened to, not understood, not cared for, or worse - maybe the psychiatrist will see how “crazy” they are and lock them up. The stereotype of being “crazy” is equated with being dangerous, weird, scary, and ostracized - and in some ways - so is being a psychiatrist.

Joe wants to be a rapper. Max wants to be a filmmaker. They go to a secluded house in rural Virginia to document the production of Joe's demo CD. But what begins as a funny music documentary turns into a film about Joe's harrowing battle with a self-destructive alter-ego.

Five subjects from Gen-Z take the PHQ-9 - a survey to assess the degree of one's depression severity. They -also- have a lot to say.

New York, 1980. Three complete strangers accidentally discover that they're identical triplets, separated at birth. The 19-year-olds' joyous reunion catapults them to international fame, but also unlocks an extraordinary and disturbing secret that goes beyond their own lives – and could transform our understanding of human nature forever.