Title: MENTAL Festival – Cinema, Arts and Information
Country: PORTUGAL
Form(s) of actions:
Several days programmation that includes: M-Cinema – International Short Film Showcase; M-Talks; M-Debates; Concerts; Films Exhibitions; Outdoor Activities; Mental Junior; Mental Senior; Mental Natura.
Type(s) of actions
Information/education
Summary:
The Mental Festival – Cinema, Arts and Information, an annual event with the main objective of giving visibility to mental health, offering a varied program, from cinema to the arts, including debates and featuring several experts from different areas, is a citizen initiative organized by Safe Space Portugal, a non-profit association that aims to combat mental health illiteracy with the support of the National Coordination of Mental Health Policies and the Ministry of Health (co-production). It had its eight edition in 2024.
Aim:
Mental Festival was created in 2017, with the “primary objective to speak clearly and clearly about mental health” and “the chosen platform is culture in its broadest sense and the arts in particular, extraordinary vehicles for combating stigma, shame and lack of public and general information”. An event with the main objective of giving visibility to mental health, offering a varied program, from cinema to the arts, including debates and featuring several experts from different areas.
Main stakeholders:
Mental health related NGO: Safe Space Portugal, a non-profit association that aims to combat mental health illiteracy (organization of the event); National Coordination of Mental Health Policies and the Ministry of Health (co-production); Lisbon; Municipality; the Therapeutic Theater Group of the W+ Unit, of Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa; Dance Therapy Center of the Lisbon Psychiatric Hospital; writers; musicians; professionals experts; journalists; NEFELE Network; Public in General.
Issues addressed:
In 2024, for instance the themes of the M-talks were dedicated to the following topics: “Social Communication and Mental Health”, “Bureaucracy and Mental Health” and “Music and Mental Health”.
Outcome:
“With a focus on programming, exhibitions and discussions, MENTAL has had a major impact in eight editions, all in person, on participants and audiences who have attended international film screenings, M-Talks (public debates) on the topics covered and corresponding feature films, M-Debate on Digital Health, Theatre, Dance, music with My Story My Song and literary publishing with its own label, which already has four original titles.” (cited from https://mental.pt/sobre-nos/) The meeting has each year high levels of participation (both considering presenters/programme and public) and recording of M-Talks is made available on youtube. Each year artistic groups of persons experiencing mental health illness (users of mental health services) are invited as presenters, the Therapeutic Theater Group of the W+ Unit, of Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa, for instance each year prepare and presents a play. No further information was found on-line related to outcomes/results, but a questionaire is applied to the public to assess satisfaction.
Sustainability:
This is an annual event, in 2024 it was the eighth edition (VII), organized in partnership with the National Coordination of Mental Health Policies.
Link(s):
https://mental.pt; https://www.youtube.com/FestivalMental
Data source: Festival Mental Webpage, booklets for each edition since 2017; RESPONSIVE Task 3.1: Review media coverage of protests and campaigns
