On October 17th, MEHAR hosted MAFFA (Media Art Film Festival Awareness) with the help of a matching grant from Advance Brampton Fund.. The event was a resounding success, with over 170 attendees taking part in awareness-raising and stigma-reducing journey. The audience represented diverse, multicultural groups, and service providers from social service organizations across the Greater Toronto Area.

The event began with a moving speech from The Hon. Michael Tibollo, Ontario’s Associate Minister for Mental Health and Addictions. He spoke passionately about the need to divert more resources to mental health in Ontario and how, more than ever, mental health and physical health ought to be seen as being equal and interrelated. His support, words, and time were incredibly well-received and appreciated by the audience.

After the keynote address by Hon. Michael Tibollo, the audience enjoyed MEHAR’s new short film “ In the Highs and Lows - I Am Still Me.” The film told the story of a young woman being diagnosed with bipolar disorder and provided a moving insight into the reality of living with the condition.

The next film displayed was a guest entry directed by Blessing Alasan called Dear Immigrant - a film that told a love story between two immigrants to Canada that highlighted the complex relationship between migration, well-being, and quality of life for refugees.

The Healing Journey is a short film which throws light on the challenges experienced by a young immigrant girl after struggling with a concurrent disorder. The final film shown was a documentary called Beyond my Unreal World - I Am Still Me, which educated the audience on schizophrenia in a creative, thoughtful, and engaging way.

MEHAR’s mental health expert, Dr. David Kantor, leveraged his extensive first-hand experience working with people who live with schizophrenia to answer the audience’s thought-provoking questions about the condition. Dr. Kantor received many questions from the audience, demonstrating a clear interest and desire to learn more from the attendees.

Rekha Vaishnav, the Executive Director and Creative Head, also spoke about her passion for MEHAR and what it stands for - and the journey the organization has been through since its launch, overcoming the challenges posed by the pandemic, launching new initiatives, and creating its first high-quality films to raise awareness about mental and emotional health topics.

MAFFA was more than just a film festival; it was a holistic experience. It provided attendees with a well-rounded, visceral insight into mental health conditions that often go underlooked, and it continued the conversation around mental health issues well after the event, providing attendees with a point of reference to refer to when discussing conditions like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The quality of the films produced by MEHAR and directed by Harpal Singh gave a real multi-sensory learning experience for the audience. These films also portrayed the experience of people living with mental health conditions in diverse, multicultural communities- an experience that is often underlooked and neglected by mainstream films and media.

MEHAR is confident in getting requests to organize the screening of these films to ensure an open dialogue around mental health issues.

Please click on the following links to have a glimpse of the success of MAFFA.   

https://fb.watch/ghFq1SenVN/

Opening remarks by Hon.Michael Tibollo, Associate Minister for Mental Health and Addictions