The Jokes

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

March 1988 •Spanish

Pepa resolves to kill herself with a batch of sleeping-pill-laced gazpacho after her lover leaves her. Fortunately, she is interrupted by a deliciously chaotic series of events.

Lui Lack, It's Not Your Fault

October 2020 •Spanish

A man stuck in time of his greatest trauma grew up suppressing it in order to avoid being judged; thinking that it was all his fault. Years of working as a psychotherapist would help him solve a rebus with some help from his clients.

Mental as Everything

July 2021 •English

Damon Smith has estimated that he has spent around 50,000 hours of his life, so far, participating in absurd ritualistic behaviours associated with his obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). With a diagnosis of both, OCD and Bipolar Disorder, and with the help of his anxious friend, Adam Coad, these Australian singer-songwriters share, through original music, preposterous humour, and outlandish animations, the intricate and debilitating nature of what it is like to live and talk about mental illness in a world where it’s ok to talk about a broken arm, but not ok to talk about a broken mind.

A Point of Return

January 1964 •English

A short film portrays the events of a depressed man's day, culminating, presumably, in his suicide, though the ending is ambiguous. Afterwards, a roundtable of mental hygiene professionals and social workers examine the film, while discussing the phenomenon of suicide more broadly.

Significant Other

October 2022 •English

Ruth and Harry decide to take a romantic backpacking trip through the Pacific Northwest, but amongst the beautiful scenery, Ruth makes an unexpected discovery that sets her off on a strange, frightening new path. The couple aren't alone in the woods, and they might not be the same when they come out...if they come out.

Rose

February 2022 •Danish

Over the course of a week, sisters Inger and Ellen find their relationship challenged on a highly anticipated coach trip to Paris. Inger reveals her struggles with schizophrenia to the group, receiving both pity and discrimination. On arrival, it soon becomes clear that Inger has a hidden agenda concerning a figure from her past, ultimately involving the entire group in her hunt for answers.

Reality Free

October 2022 •English

A young man undergoes the dilemma of either letting the medication he takes for his bipolar disorder suppress his entire personality or be himself with all that comes with it.

Deliver Me from Nowhere

Invalid date •English

Visionary musician Bruce Springsteen embarks on an emotional journey to record "Nebraska."

Barefoot

March 2005 •German

A hedonistic bachelor - he is his rich family's black sheep - falls for a suicidal mental patient.

Petrichor

January 2020 •English

A suicidal twenty-something is dragged on a night out, by his party animal lodger, to cheer him up. What could possibly go wrong?

He Was a Quiet Man

November 2007 •English

An unhinged office worker who planned to go on a shooting spree at his workplace struggles with his newfound status as a hero after he ends up stopping a shooting spree instead.

The Madness of King George

December 1994 •English

Aging King George III of England is exhibiting signs of madness, a problem little understood in 1788. As the monarch alternates between bouts of confusion and near-violent outbursts of temper, his hapless doctors attempt the ineffectual cures of the day. Meanwhile, Queen Charlotte and Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger attempt to prevent the king's political enemies, led by the Prince of Wales, from usurping the throne.

The Fiend

January 2011 •English

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.

Under Stress

January 1964 •English

Shows new methods in treating those afflicted with mental health issues. Contrasts past treatment regimes where people were locked away out of sight with the new, 1960s, psychiatric ideas of "group therapy" and talking therapy. Also shows practical behaviours aimed at returning patients to productive lives in society and outpatient services.

The Hasty Man Drinks His Tea with a Fork

January 2003 •English

A blend of drama and documentary, this film follows several people caught up in the turmoil of the modern world. The drama centres on a woman who has burned out and who holds up her own despair – and her attempts to rebuild her life – as a mirror to the rest of us. With a blend of gravity and humour, Sylvie Groulx's film shows the absurdity of a society dedicated to the cult of speed at all costs.

Fearless

October 1993 •English

After a terrible air disaster, survivor Max Klein emerges a changed person. Unable to connect to his former life or to wife Laura, he feels godlike and invulnerable. When psychologist Bill Perlman is unable to help Max, he has Max meet another survivor, Carla Rodrigo, who is wracked with grief and guilt since her baby died in the crash which she and Max survived.

The Normal Spaces

February 2024 •English

A lonely day in the life of someone who feels like simply an extension of the spaces they inhabit. They are hit with the dreadful isolation that exists as a result.

We Move

September 2024 •English

Faced with ever-growing obstacles, we force ourselves to compartmentalise and persevere; "We Move". What is the collateral damage of always having to put on a brave face?

María

May 2019 •Spanish

Ábreme

May 2024 •English

The collision between two cultures explodes in one household as all three wait for Javier's immigration papers. A dark comedy that explores immigration, mental health and the magnetism hiding as aversion.