The friendship bench

In Fear, documentary filmmaker Michiel van Erp creates a collage of inhabitants of the city of Amsterdam who struggle with various anxiety disorders. Today, more patients with anxiety disorders seek professional help than those who suffer from depression, making anxiety the number one mental illness in the Netherlands. This film will show how a small number of those patients attempt to overcome their fears, in order to get on with their lives in the crowded cosmopolitan city that Amsterdam is today.

David Harewood had a psychotic breakdown and was sectioned in his 20s. David traces his steps, meeting young people living with psychosis and the NHS professionals who treat them.

Alex works for the Dutch Railways (NS) and suffers from severe PTSD, having witnessed 36 suicides on the railway. Fimme is a former drug addict and struggles with an eating disorder. Both have searched for years for relief from their psychological suffering without success. Now they are turning their hopes to psychedelic therapy. In a vulnerable quest, they are trying to regain control of their lives through this method.

Daniel Mulholland, a master-builder uses LEGO to reshape his life after being diagnosed with PTSD. The film highlights the relationship between mental health and a simple act of kindness, showing how something as small as a plastic brick can be life-changing for oneself and others.

How many imaginary deathly diseases can you have before you die from fear and anxiety? This short documentary answers this question by trying to show the surreal world its protagonists are living in.

Dramatic and deeply personal film about the psychological impact of killing on the lives of five soldiers. Representing a cross section of nationalities, gender, class and race, these soldiers reveal intimate memories about the central act of war, the killing of another human being. How do these individuals make sense of what they have done? What happens when time challenges their carefully constructed stories? Consciously apolitical but deeply psychological, Hidden Battles examines the strength and struggles of men and women who kill and how they create a life for themselves afterward.

When Yvon Rioux, a teacher and singer, witnesses the brutal death of a former student, gunned down before his eyes, his world collapses. Traumatized, he develops post-traumatic stress disorder that turns his life upside down and reawakens old wounds. Haunted by the silence of his grandfather, a World War II veteran, he decides to travel across Europe to confront his fears, understand his past, and begin rebuilding his life. A Last Scar is the intimate portrait of a man in search of inner peace, between memory, transmission, and resilience.

After more than twenty years, Swiss musician Dino Brandão travels to Angola to give a concert in his father's home country. Confronted with his family's past and questions about his own identity, Dino is triggered into a manic episode.

For those who electrical sensitivity, there aren’t many places to seek refuge. In a remote part of West Virginia, the so-called National Radio Quiet Zone offers one such escape.

In 1983, the director’s 24-year-old sister developed symptoms of schizophrenia. Her parents couldn’t accept it—refusing to seek treatment for their sick child, they confined her to their house, to the point of even fixing a padlock on the front door to lock her in. Her younger brother, suspicious of his parents’ actions, began filming the family in an effort to openly question them. A family conflict that lasted over twenty years.

This documentary follows the lives of several extraordinary people who have been diagnosed with social anxiety disorder. Through personal interviews, viewers learn about the symptoms, emotions, and challenges these people face and about the treatments available to help people on their road to recovery.

The incredible story of Bruno Lüdke (1908-44), the alleged worst mass murderer in German criminal history; or actually, a story of forged files and fake news that takes place during the darkest years of the Third Reich, when the principles of criminal justice, subjected to the yoke of a totalitarian system that is beginning to collapse, mean absolutely nothing.

Formerly known as ‘multiple personality disorder’, dissociative identity disorder, the most common cause of which is severe childhood trauma, is a condition recognised by psychiatry but still poorly understood, to the extent that it is sometimes called into question. Alongside patients and researchers, we delve into the mechanisms and daily implications of this pervasive condition.

A groundbreaking documentary about the temperament trait of high sensitivity found in 20% of the population in both men and women. Based on the findings of bestselling author-psychologist Dr. Elaine Aron ("The Highly Sensitive Person").

The Bridge is a controversial documentary that shows people jumping to their death from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco - the world's most popular suicide destination. Interviews with the victims' loved ones describe their lives and mental health.

A woman who had been raped and whose family wiped out by the collaborators of the occupying forces during the bloody "liberation war" of Bangladesh in 1971 now roams the streets, 30 years later, as a mad person.

Roman Kemp: Our Silent Emergency is a deeply personal and candid film following Roman as he explores the mental health and suicide crisis affecting young men in the UK.

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.

Raised by a man leading a monstrous double life, the daughter of the BTK serial killer shares her chilling story.

Her rise was a global phenomenon. Her downfall was a cruel national sport. People close to Britney Spears and lawyers tied to her conservatorship now reassess her career as she battles her father in court over who should control her life.