As the virtual festival winds down, I thought I’d highlight a quiet, sweet film that I think is one of the more feel-good entries. The focus of Morten Hansen’s Dolldays is men’s mental health, and its setting in a small and slow village in Norway is a part of that story. Everybody knows everybody else, which makes it difficult to openly discuss their feelings. As what seems like an absurd preventative measure, a ventriloquist teaches men in the village how to use puppets to express the emotions that are difficult for the men to speak aloud. Surprisingly, this form of puppet therapy actually works and encourages honest conversations between the men in the program.
Two central characters in the film are a father and his son, who has expressed disappointment for a long time that they can’t speak about their mother’s death. Dolldays shows how important it is not to sweep these uncomfortable conversations under the rug, and to literally face our feelings. There is one scene I love that is representative of the whole film in a way, where two men are fishing and talking to each other while their puppets lie behind them. The dolls may have been useful initially to as a way to voice suppressed thoughts, but they soon carry over into having a very real impact on the lives of the patients. We’ve probably all seen or heard of therapists using dolls or puppets with kids as an outlet for what they find hard to say, but there’s something tender and heartwarming about seeing it work for grown men.
There’s still some time to watch Dolldays playing for FREE in Shorts Block No. 2: Dolldays | Shorts Block No. 2 | Mental Filmness 2025 Virtual Festival
And don’t forget to vote before the festival ends! Cast your virtual ballot, and let us know what YOU think!
