In connection to World Mental Health Day and the 75th anniversary of WHO, WHO and UN City Copenhagen is hosting a docUNight screening of award-winning short films on various topics surrounding mental health and well-being.
In the short films, we’ll meet ordinary people with extraordinary determination and resilience. Diving into topics, such as depression, climate anxiety, schizophrenia, stigma or homelessness – combined with a strong message of hope – the films underline the importance of connecting with each other, fostering discussion, dialogue and understanding.
The short films are part of the WHO Health For All Film Festival’s shortlisted or winning films.
The screening is followed by discussion and Q&A, inspiring conversation, actions and solutions for reducing stigma and improving well-being for all through #Film4Health.
Panelists:
Paul Jerndal
Paul Jerndal is an award-winning Swedish filmmaker and passionate advocate for mental health. Paul actively engages with organizations and non-profit mental health initiatives, using his films to raise awareness and drive positive change, sparking conversations that promote understanding, compassion, and self-reflection.
Rune Jorgensen
Rune Jørgensen is a voluntary ambassador with One Of Us, a Danish governmental campaign for combatting societal stigma associated with poor mental health. He also has 20 years of experience living with a mental health condition. Politically engaged, Rune sees his work as part of fighting stigma and self-stigma in a broader context in society.
Dr Ledia Lazeri
Dr Ledia Lazeri is the Regional Adviser for Mental Health at WHO/Europe, leading WHO’s work on mental health in several areas, such as policy and services, rights and advocacy, as well as implementing the WHO European Framework for Action in Mental Health 2021–2025 and supporting the Pan-European Mental Health Coalition.
Background
Mental health matters. Nevertheless, people with mental health conditions rarely get the help they need. Many people avoid disclosing a mental health condition because doing so often invites discrimination and stigma – they may lose their job or find it difficult to get hired, get deprioritized in housing queues, and even become alienated from friends and family.
Mental health services are under-funded and under-resourced: for the estimated 1 in 7 members of the population in the WHO European Region who have a diagnosable mental health condition, governments on average allocate only about 3.0% of their health-care budgets to mental health services. Also, there are only about 45 mental health workers for 100 000 people in the Region.
WHO launched the Pan-European Mental Health Coalition in 2021 to unite everyone who is already enacting the phrase “mental health matters”, whether they are health-care professionals, academics, or people living with mental health conditions and their families. The coalition’s overarching aim is to create a space for sharing knowledge, wisdom and experience in improving mental health at the individual, community, national and international levels.
The WHO Health For All Film Festival
The WHO Health for All Film Festival (HAFF) aims to harness a new generation of film and video innovators to champion global health issues, inviting independent film-makers, production companies, nongovernmental organizations, communities, students, and film schools from around the world to submit their original short films about health. In its fourth year in 2023, there was a strong showing for mental health by European filmmakers as HAFF received hundreds of submissions from all over the world, competing in categories including Universal Health Coverage, Health Emergencies, Better Health and Well-being, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, Climate Change and Health, and Very Short Film. Since 2020, the Health for All Film Festival has gathered more than 4300 submissions from 110 countries.