Crownsville Hospital: From Lunacy to Legacy

Crownsville Hospital: From Lunacy to Legacy is a feature-length documentary film highlighting the history of the Crownsville State Mental Hospital in Crownsville, MD.

The Blood Is at the Doorstep

After Dontre Hamilton, a black, unarmed man diagnosed with schizophrenia, was shot 14 times and killed by police in Milwaukee, his family embarks on a quest for answers, justice and reform as the investigation unfolds.

A Certain Liberation

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.

Die Erfindung eines Mörders – Der Fall Bruno Lüdke

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.

Shipbuilder

This film recreates the true story of Tom Sukanen, an eccentric Finnish immigrant who homesteaded in Saskatchewan in the 1920s and 1930s. Sukanen spent ten years building and moving overland a huge iron ship that was to carry him back to his native Finland. The ship never reached water.

どうすればよかったか？

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.

The Killer at Thurston High

In May 1998, a year before the massacre at Columbine High, 15-year-old Kip Kinkel murdered his mother and father, and then opened fire at Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon, killing two fellow students and wounding 25 others. In this first in-depth television examination of a school shooter, FRONTLINE reveals the intimate inside story of how the “shy and likeable” Kip Kinkel from a solid middle-class family became the boy police call “a cold-hearted killer.”

Häxan

Grave robbing, torture, possessed nuns, and a satanic Sabbath: Benjamin Christensen's legendary film uses a series of dramatic vignettes to explore the scientific hypothesis that the witches of the Middle Ages suffered the same hysteria as turn-of-the-century psychiatric patients. But the film itself is far from serious-- instead it's a witches' brew of the scary, gross, and darkly humorous.

Three Identical Strangers

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.

Art of Storytelling: The Human Experience of Being a Psychiatrist

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.

Gaza Dreams

With nearly two million people living in miserable conditions in Gaza, the Israeli blockade has taken its toll on mental health there. Against the backdrop of the border clashes earlier in 2018 this film goes deep inside the minds of the people of Gaza to explore the mental health issues affecting many there.

Making a Killing: The Untold Story of Psychotropic Drugging

Psychotropic drugs. It’s the story of big money-drugs that fuel a $330 billion psychiatric industry, without a single cure. The cost in human terms is even greater-these drugs now kill an estimated 42,000 people every year. And the death count keeps rising. Containing more than 175 interviews with lawyers, mental health experts, the families of victims and the survivors themselves, this riveting documentary rips the mask off psychotropic drugging and exposes a brutal but well-entrenched money-making machine. Before these drugs were introduced in the market, people who had these conditions would not have been given any drugs at all. So it is the branding of a disease and it is the branding of a drug for a treatment of a disease that did not exist before the industry made the disease.

Sparni

It’s the second semester of junior year for Pierce “Sparni” Sparnroft, a gifted jazz vibraphonist studying at Montclair State University in New Jersey. Sparni’s prospects on the vibes were rejuvenated by their new professor, the world-renowned Steve Nelson, and are to be showcased during a student-driven recital in May 2023. But all the while, Sparni must face a crisis within.

Otázky pana Lásky

Borderline

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

Movie Hoarders: From VHS to DVD and Beyond!

Filmmakers and collectors lift the curtain on their manic media obsession that is not only a huge part of their lives, but the lifeblood of their existence!

Attila

Filmmaker Stephen Hosier takes a journey with Richard Csanyi, his childhood friend, as he investigates the life and death of his twin brother Attila, who was found dead on a rooftop in 2020.

The Musical Mind: A Portrait in Process

Sparked by the impending 25th anniversary of the Academy award-winning film Shine, this documentary explores the power of the musical brain. Featuring exclusive, intimate footage of superstar international musicians in their private worlds, it opens an intriguing portal into the musical mind.

Manolo Kabezabolo

Documentary about Manuel Méndez, better known as Manolo Kabezabolo, a punk artist who in a somewhat implausible way has crossed time, space and fashions, without giving up his essences and principles.

Beyond Silence

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.