SHOUT LONDON The Ashford Place Mental Health Film & Arts Festival announced September 23 that Ben Akers’ documentary Our Kids Our Lives will open the event’s second edition, running October 10 and 11.
In the feature length doc, world-premiering in London, “Akers talks to parents, kids and experts looking for solutions on how we can help kids become mentally strong. He tries to discover what we can do to help our next generation who suffer from body image, self-harm and societal pressures in our expanding digital world,” write festival organisers.
Additionally, recovery campaigner Maddie Kitchen FRSA of Sobriety Films will be screening the short film Say Something, which follows a teenager’s journey from active addiction to recovery. Maria will be talking about her lived experience with DPDR, together with English-Irish singer-songwriter and freelance musician who focuses on “the healing power of music as a space for vulnerability, connection and transformation.”
This year’s festival presenter will be Peter Curran, the Irish BBC Radio 4 broadcaster, writer & documentary maker. Curran has produced and directed many UK projects on Irish history, language and culture for institutions such as The Imperial War Museum and the BBC, including The Past is a Foreign Country and Collecting the Troubles.
Danny Maher, CEO of Ashford Place, who has worked closely with Festival Director MD Carey Fitzgerald to develop SHOUT LONDON, highlighted the success of the inaugural event in 2022: “We are realising our long-term plan of building SHOUT LONDON into one of the most diverse cultural annual events in the calendar. By engaging with communities the festival celebrates the artistic expression of people with experience of mental health issues, exploring the relationship between creativity and the mind, while promoting positive mental health and well-being.”
MD Fitzgerald added: “One of the biggest compliments from last year’s SHOUT LONDON was when members of the audience asked us how many years the festival had been running, which was the biggest compliment for year one. Combing the subject of mental health with expression through the arts made total sense as everyone was so comfortable in discussing their experiences.”
