I’m Carla Rabinowitz, the Advocacy Coordinator for Community Access, and the co-founder of the NYC Mental Health Film Festival. Today, our film festival is a go-to event for filmmakers from around the world with a passion for justice and interest in mental health.
But how did we get here?
Back in 2005, I was working with people in the mental health community to plan a fun community event. We decided to have a day of films and conversation: we’d select the best films we could about mental health, screen them, and relate them to our own experiences. And that’s what we did!
But soon it became clear that our little film festival could be something big – an event with broad appeal and impact. So, the festival grew. While it continued to be organized mainly by mental health recipients, we started spreading the word to a wider audience. We set out to build a community through film.
Above all, we wanted to show the lives, successes, hopes, struggles, and beautiful humanity of people with mental health concerns.
Today, that’s still what we’re doing! To date, we’ve screened more than 50 films and welcomed more than 5,000 film lovers to our festival. Filmmakers and stars from around the world have shown their films, shared their insights, and participated in lively conversations with our audience. Members of the mental health community have continued to share their reactions and their life experiences, and we’ve all grown together.
And that's not all. Back in 2016, as part of the NYC Mental Health Film Festival, we started a young filmmaker competition: Changing Minds. Because most mental health concerns begin early in life — on average, as early as age 14 — we thought it important to give young people an opportunity to share their experiences through film. We believed young people had important perspectives to offer, and vital stories to share. And it turns out we were right: since 2016, we've received thousands of films from young filmmakers from around the world.
Each year since we launched Changing Minds, we have screened the winning film at the NYC Mental Health Film Festival — often one of the day's highlights! But given the sheer number of great films we've received, in 2019, we decided that young people needed their own festival: The Changing Minds Young Filmmaker Festival.
This year, due to the public health situation, both festivals will be FREE, virtual, online events. The NYC Mental Health Film Festival will be held as a three-day event: December 1, 3, 5. Mark your calendars, and stay tuned for more info about the Changing Minds festival. As ever, we've got a great batch of films for you.
Films that make you laugh. Films that make you cry. Films that make you think about how to make this world a gentler, more compassionate place, for people of all ages.So don’t miss out! I’m looking forward to meeting you, and learning from you.