Your Mum and Dad

A short form exploration of the very visceral and disorienting world of living with severe anxiety and depression, the world’s biggest health problem.

Jonas Elrod woke up one day with the ability to see and hear angels, demons and ghosts. Filmed over the course of three years, this documentary follows Jonas and his girlfriend as they try to understand the phenomenon.

This PBS documentary explores depression, a debilitating disease that affects millions of Americans. Touching the lives of people from diverse backgrounds, depression still carries a stigma that causes some sufferers to go without treatment. Real people with depression talk about their experiences, and scientists offer commentary to shed light on the disease, including its diagnosis, treatment and current research.

A free-flowing, poetic short film filled with expressionist imagery, old photos and abstract moments, led by a voice-over in which the director tells us personal memories of his youth and his recent life in the hopes of sketching a clear image of the complex struggle of growing from an innocent child to a weary adult.

A young woman, who has inherited her grandparents' huge house, a fascinating place full of amazing objects, feels overwhelmed by the weight of memories and her new responsibilities. Fortunately, the former inhabitants of the house soon come to her aid. (An account of the life and work of Fernando Fernán Gómez [1921-2007] and his wife Emma Cohen [1946-2016], two singular artists and fundamental figures of contemporary Spanish culture.)

By following the lives of five Japanese individuals this documentary explores the problem of depression in Japan and how the marketing of anti-depressant drugs has changed the way the Japanese view depression. Marketing of anti-depressants did not begin in Japan until the late 1990s and prior to this, depression was not widely recognized as a problem by the Japanese public. Since then, use of anti-depressants has sky-rocketed and use of the Japanese word "utsu" to describe depression has become commonplace, having previously been used only by psychiatric professionals.

In Iasi, Romania, from June 28 to July 6, 1941, nearly 15 000 Jews were murdered in the course of a horrifying pogrom. At the time, the programmed extermination of European Jews had not yet began. After the war, the successive communist governments did all they could to ensure the Iasi pogrom would be forgotten. It was not until November of 2004 that Romania recognized for the first time its direct responsibility in the pogrom. All that remains of this massacre are about a hundred photographs taken as souvenirs by german and romanian soldiers, and a few remaining survivors.

Filmmaker Paul Gallasch is 30 and still lives at home with his mentally ill mother. When he meets the woman of his dreams, Paul decides that if he's ever going to make a new life of his own, he must first find a cure for his mother's illness.

Chaja Florentin and Mimi Frons have been best friends for 83 years. Born and raised in Berlin, they had to escape from the Nazis to Palestine with their families in 1934. They talk about their complicated relationship with Berlin in a Tel Aviv café where they meet everyday. A film about friendship, homeland and identity.

In 2017 I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I decided to film my time in waiting rooms, surgery and chemotherapy. Shot exclusively on the iPhone X, The Waiting Room is an unflinching portrait of the blood, sweat and tears of cancer treatment. At home I filmed with my teenage son, as we came to terms with how family life was transformed by a year of living with cancer. The Waiting Room challenges the cultural myths that surround this disease, putting under the microscope the language of illness. The Waiting Room documents illness from a patient’s POV, exploring what we can and what we can’t control when our bodies fail us. The Waiting Room 30 minute smartphone short was broadcast on The Guardian website as part of their documentaries strand.

Weg vom Fenster - Leben nach dem Burnout

This 3-minute short film by Iain Delavan was created at a dark time in his life. In his usual abstract and expressive style, Delavan depicts an unsettling scene of a character committing self-harm, set against the backdrop of an interpolation of Lizzy McAlpine's 'doomsday'.

Madrid, Spain, March 2020. As the merciless disease that plagues the world spreads through the increasingly deserted streets of the city, people barricades themselves in their homes and move on with their lives…

One in eight Dutch women gets breast cancer, which means that most people know someone who struggles with this life-threatening disease. The part of a woman's body where she is probably the most vulnerable, beautiful, proud and sexy becomes a source of despair and rage. For Ingrid, Vicky and Sabrina, breast cancer takes on various forms. They are working towards recovery through tough and painful treatment, but are acutely aware that the disease can rear its ugly head again without warning. They feel damaged and insecure, and their self-esteem is at stake, for the disease has eroded their sense of femininity. In a very personal and intimate way, Awake in a Bad Dream shows how the women and their partners try to regain control of their lives after the diagnosis. Without comment or interviews, the film follows Ingrid, Vicky and Sabrina as they face inevitable and painful choices at the hospital.

Ich will da sein - Jenny Gröllmann

Keenly aware that his niece is going through a particularly rough time at home, Uncle James teaches Ava Dee how to use the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera. As an experiment, he tells her to shoot whatever she wants and he'll edit it into a film.

Due to the measures taken by the government, students have fewer and fewer prospects for a meaningful future. Life is on pause and society is kept in fear. The confidence in a bright future is gone. Even after 18 months, there is still no light at the end of the tunnel. The many promises have not yet changed this situation. In this moving documentary, young people give an idea of the impact of the measures on their lives. Is there still hope or has the damage already been done?

Investigates the controversy swirling around the breast cancer screening test mammography.

An actual patient, Gloria Szymanski, allowed herself to be filmed while engaged in therapy with three different therapists, distinguished by their different orientations but sharing their therapeutic endeavors. Poster illustration by Kati Szilágyi.

In his early days as an actor, Marlon Brando (1924-2004) was a shy young man with theatrical ambitions, like many others; but his charisma and superb acting skills made him truly unique, so that the doors to the starry sky of Hollywood opened for him. However, his peculiar manners, political commitment and complicated love life always overshadowed his artistic success.