BREAKING NEWS / April 17, 2012: ATLANTIC MINDS WIDE OPEN 2012 IS A GO!!  We have just learned that the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia has awarded us a major operating grant for the festival again this year. We are very excited and will be bringing you more info and reaching out for community input soon! Keep an eye on us at Facebook and Twitter (@mindopenfilms)

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On November 25, 2011 an exciting new film festival for Atlantic Canada took place in Halifax. Hundreds of people came out to Atlantic Minds Wide Open as we presented films on a set of related themes: mental health, wellness, addiction and illness, recovery and building communities that help us all thrive and flourish. We presented films from a range of filmmakers - some involving collaborations between professional filmmakers and people exploring their creativity with one another as part of their recovery and engagement with their neighbourhoods and communities.

One of the short pieces presented that night was "Mind Over Matter", a music video created by the ASPEN family empowerment and support group, working to promote awareness about the challenges and blessings related to childrens' experiences of Asperger's Syndrome. This video was created in a wonderfully grassroots way and you can read more about it, and the group's experience of seeing the film at Atlantic Minds Wide Open, here at group member Anne-Marie McElrone's blog.

"Mind Over Matter" was one of many ingredients to the day, as we presented a range of activities and events which culminated in a screening of the award-winning film "Crooked Beauty" by San Francisco filmmaker Ken Paul Rosenthal. His film presents a poetic account of Jacks McNamara's process of recovery and emergence as a major positive force for community development and mental health advocacy in the United States. Mr. Rosenthal enthusiastically embraced his time with us in Halifax to discuss the film and share his perspectives on the power of film in relation to mental illness, positive mental health and community.

We at Atlantic Minds Wide Open are looking forward to continuing to build on the invigorating energy of November 25 by planning more events in 2012. We are especially interested in bringing the rich potential inherent in film to individuals and groups looking for a fresh and powerful vocabulary for enaging their communities in ideas, stories and art. If you are a person living with, or in relation to, a mental illness and/or addiction issue, a filmmaker, mental health worker, and/or a person involved in promoting neighbourhood and community issues, we hope you'll check in. We are excited to bring together youth as well as adults. Students in film, other fine arts and health fields, are also welcome to connect with us. If you have an interest in these issues, regardless of your station in life, we hope to hear from you and see you at a future event. Please visit back periodically for updates. Learn more

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