The packed programme celebrates the best new films exploring mental health in diverse and innovative ways. Scottish talent and filmmakers from around the world (including Canada, Lithuania and Denmark) will take part in post-screening discussions providing unique insights into their films and the stories behind them.

Cinephiles won’t want to miss the festival’s International Film Awards ceremony (Thursday 17 October) when they’ll have the chance to hear from this year’s award-winning filmmakers, discover what’s coming up in the programme and mingle at a drinks reception.

Winning films include My Dad’s Tapes, screening on Friday 18 October, which picks up the award for best Personal Narrative. When filmmaker Kurtis Watson searches a trove of home videos for clues to the cause of his father’s sudden suicide, it leads him on a poignant and cathartic journey of familial healing.

Glasgow-based director Heather E Andrews’ This Werewolf Complex, screens as part of Scottish Stories on Friday 18 October. This extraordinary short explores auras (disturbances in the brain that can precede seizures) to dazzling effect, rightly taking home the festival’s Experimental Film award.

Other shorts programmes include Interventions (Saturday 19 October), an eclectic selection offering insights into the underground world of diffing, the self-improvement industry, and the psychiatric monastery where Vincent Van Gogh spent an eventful year.

Fans of Agnes Varda’s lyrical, collage-like approach will connect with The Taste Of Mango (Wednesday 16 October). Chloe Abrahams’ hypnotic love letter to her mother and grandmother tenderly untangles painful knots in her family’s unspoken past.

Unique immersive event Remember 2 Replenish (Thursday 17 October) delves into the lived experiences of Black women, offering a cinematic exploration of self-care and resilience, while Gitti Grüter’s highly personal doc Sick Girls engages the filmmaker with other women living with ADHD to reflect on their shared experiences (Saturday 19 October).

Closing the programme in style will be the Scottish premiere of Duncan Cowles’ debut feature doc, Silent Men (Saturday 19 October). Cowles embarks on a journey across the UK to ask men about their experiences of mental health in an effort understand his own struggles. This important exploration into a taboo topic is grounded in the filmmaker’s renowned deadpan style and artistic flair. The film will then tour to four Scottish venues, from Inverness to Dumfries.

The Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival runs across Scotland, Thursday 10–Sunday 27 October, creatively exploring the theme of In/Visible; explore the full Focus on Film programme and book tickets on their website.