Mental Filmness 2023 Festival

Please join us for the 2023 Mental Filmness Festival, the Chicago-based film festival about mental health.

We will open on Friday evening, October 6th, with a screening of Any Given Day, a documentary directed by local filmmaker Margaret Byrne. The film follows the stories of Angela, Daniel, and Dimitar, three participants in a Cook County mental health court program, over the course of five years. The screening will begin at 7:00 p.m. and will be followed by a special discussion panel with director Margaret Byrne and participants in the film. The screening will take place in UIC’s Student Center East, in Room SCE 613.

On Saturday evening, October 7th, we will host a screening of The Year Between, a film written by, directed by, and starring the talented young Alex Heller. Heller drew from her own life experience to create this heartfelt and comedic film about a young woman coming of age in the Chicagoland suburbs who is forced to take a gap year from college when she receives a surprise diagnosis of bipolar disorder. This screening will be presented at Facets Cinematheque, 1517 W. Fullerton. Before the feature film we will begin at 7 p.m. with a screening of Chicago student shorts to honor youth in mental health.