Hello Mental Filmness viewers! It’s the last weekend of the virtual festival and there are two additions to the finale lineup.
One is Paper Veil, another one of those short shorts that is abstract and experimental, by the multimedia artist Jinian Raine Harwig. I had meant to show this more as an art installation projected on a loop at the live screenings, but got caught up in the hectic nature of the live festival and forgot about setting it up. I hope to show it live somewhere in the future, but for now you can get a sneak peek at it in the virtual fest: https://mentalfilmness2024.eventive.org/films/paper-veil-6724f5bbbb8c16005e65b1b0
This film is special because I met Jinian earlier this year at a mental health art exhibit in Canada where her film was being projected and it was a really cool and unforgettable experience.
You also might have been curious about a film called My Dad’s Tapes, which surfaced and then disappeared from the virtual fest. We didn’t want to conflict with the film’s run in other festivals so offered a limited window for viewing, but they agreed to another limited run this weekend to coincide with the interview done by our inimitable jury member Danielle Gibson. A vulnerable and revealing exploration into the suicide of director Kurtis Watson’s father, this film uses a combination of video footage and family and community interviews to come to a sense of bonding and healing grief, even if they’ll never have answers or closure. Watch the director and protagonist Kurtis Watson and writer/producer Ron Viscardis in this revealing interview and check out the film playing in the virtual festival again this weekend.
https://mentalfilmness2024.eventive.org/films/my-dad-s-tapes-66f4c382c84d2600c0a8d905