Word Power: Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival's New Literary Strand

Gail Aldam’s enthusiasm about the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival is infectious. When asked to pick out highlights for 2014 – the 5th year of what is now one of the largest social justice festivals in the world – she reels off a list, then adds to it as the conversation progresses. This year’s line-up is a frankly impressive one, with a particularly strong series of events in their brand new literary strand. "We don’t just focus upon mental ill health, but on recovery, and on mental well-being as well." Aldam explains. "We don’t explore just the obvious links but many themes within the mental health banner." The festival team’s core aims have stayed the same since the festival began – raising awareness and challenging people’s perceptions of mental health. 

Highlights of this year’s festival include an evening with Hollie McNish, who will be reading her poetry at the festival as part of her UK tour. The poet is known for her warmth, humour and intelligence – "We’re really pleased to have Hollie on board!" confirms Aldam. In Edinburgh, audiences will have the opportunity to experience the Voices of War event at the Great Hall of Edinburgh Castle. The evening will combine readings of war poetry, including the renowned works of Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, with pioneering work from their psychiatrist Captain WHR Rivers. The event, which will look at their lasting legacy of how we work with today’s veterans, promises to be both powerful and emotive. In another highly-anticipated event, author Nathan Filer will be discussing his critically acclaimed debut novel The Shock of the Fall – "a really frank story of someone struggling with schizophrenia and the mental health system," explains Aldam. This year’s literary events explore mental health and illness throughout history, taking us from such contemporary works as Filer’s 2014 debut to a discussion of James Boswell’s Life of Johnson, a 1791 account of Boswell and Samuel Johnson’s discussions on melancholy and madness. These events demonstrate some of the diversity of SMHAFF – with around 300 events around Scotland, the festival this year aims to provide a platform for those who are oppressed and marginalised and to bring their messages to a wider audience.

"The festival aims to provide a platform for those who are oppressed and marginalised" - Gail Aldam, SMHAFF festival manager

This year sees the festival’s first International Writing Awards, run in partnership with Bipolar Scotland and presented in Glasgow’s Mitchell Theatre. "We launched the competition back in May," recounts Aldam. "We had entries from all over the UK and across the world as well – people entered poems, diary entries, news articles – on the theme of power." The festival theme explores the feelings of disempowerment felt when struggling with mental ill health and the empowerment of engaging with the arts and creating. Mental health workers and activists have been working with artists across Scotland and beyond, aiming to create great arts events and challenge misconceptions about mental health. The programme is spellbinding, with an extraordinary diversity of talent and creativity.

The festival’s legacy is set to last long beyond these few vibrant weeks in October. "Projects which start during the festival continue year round – something which came out of the festival is the Fruit Tree Foundation, which stemmed out of the music of the festival in 2010. It’s a youth mentoring project supported by the Mental Health Foundation, and it’s actually coming back to the festival this year." The festival team hope to take the SMHAFF brand into other arts festivals in 2014 – as Aldam enthuses, "the aims of the festival are so important that we want people talking about it year round." A festival that began as an idea, which became a weekend of film, has become an unmissable cultural event, with literature as a new string to its bow – a phenomenon which has inspired mental health festivals across the world. From Dumfriesshire to Detroit, from Finland to NYC, the Scottish Mental Health Arts & Film Festival has shown us that the arts have the power to effect extraordinary change.