Mental Health Short Film Grant

The 2024 submission window for film proposals is now closed.
It will reopen in September 2024.

Voices With Impact is a yearly short film production grant that funds 5 minute films that create transformative conversations around the topic of mental health. Each year VWI awards 10 filmmaking teams $7.5k to make a 5 minute short on specific underrepresented mental health topics.

The 10 Films for 2024 have just been completed.
Below you will find the 10 winning teams, a behind the scenes sneak peak and information the jury who selected them.

Filmmakers

All Meat Diet

Hae Ji Cho

Hae Ji Cho is a Korean Brazilian American creative currently based in Los Angeles, CA. As a writer-director, she tells stories that shine light on the beauty and grief within the endless contradictions and peculiarities found in the human experience.

All Meat Diet

Kevin Alcántar

Kevin Alcántar (he/they) is a Mexican-American multi-disciplinary artist. By exploring the rich inner lives of everyday people, his work aims to highlight how grand stories can be found in the unlikeliest of places.

Plant People

Jason Eksuzian

Jason Eksuzian is an award-winning writer/director whose work has been seen at Austin Film Festival, SXSW, Tribeca Film Festival, Atlanta Film Festival, Series Fest, LA Comedy Festival and on networks such as CBS, Bravo, MTV and Discovery+.

Plant People

Kincaid Walker

A Northwestern graduate, Kincaid Walker is a writer-producer and actor whose extensive credits include ABC, NBC, CBS, CW and Disney, feature films, and dozens of national commercials. She created the award-winning digital series, Hug it Out.

Crane

Aiden Keltner

Aiden Keltner's focus as a filmmaker is on telling underrepresented stories from the mental health community. Aiden has been inspired by his own lived experience with close family members diagnosed with serious mental illnesses.

Crane

Aakash Raj

Aakash Raj is a Los Angeles based cinematographer with over twelve years of experience. Aakash's films have garnered international recognition, with premieres and showcases at renowned festivals including Sundance, Tribeca, TIFF, Raindance, and more.

Meditations Between Us

Ashleigh Vaillancourt

Ashleigh Vaillancourt is an award-winning filmmaker and multimedia artist based in Vancouver, British Columbia. She is known for her work exploring themes of personal resilience, and has shown her pieces in festivals and galleries around the globe.

Screenless

Brandon Hicks

Brandon Hicks is a writer and cartoonist based in New Brunswick, Canada. He is the author/illustrator of several books and frequent contributor to a number of publications. His award-winning short films have played in international festivals.

Brotherly

Gavin Seal

Gavin Seal is a filmmaker on a mission to dissolve otherness using the universal language of cinema. His work includes Followers (Fantasia, Reelworld) and Case Claus'd (Montreal International Black Film Festival, CBC Short Film Face Off).

276966874_542169150566150_42924258100070502_n_edited.jpg

Clubbing

Eric Forbes

Eric (he/him) is a director and cinematographer from Fort Collins, Colorado, who is passionate about films focused on mental health. He has directed/co-created multiple films on topics including ADHD, family system structures, and climate anxiety.

Clubbing

Zach Myers

Zach is a writer and director who has worked independently in film and media for over six years. He specializes in comedy writing, and has directed several comedies that explore the absurd, anxious, and endearing qualities of day-to-day social interactions.

Bonfire

David McShane

David is an animation director based in London. His award-winning shorts have played internationally, premiering at Cannes (Solar Plexus) and the BFI London Film Festival (Come). He also works as a stop-motion animator.

Where is my thought now?

Leanne Dimant

Leanne is a director based in the UK. She’s created content for the Red Cross and the V&A Museum. She’s currently making the documentary ‘Something Glamorous, Something Awkward’, about an artist in hospital making spaceships to cross social borders.

The Four Noble Truths

Asha Alaji-Sharif

Asha Alaji-Sharif is a visual artist from Atlanta, who enjoys storytelling through every medium. Although she’s always loved filmmaking, her first feature, released in 2019, sparked her passion of sharing other’s stories through documentaries.

Jurors

We relied on a dedicated group of mental health professionals, professional filmmakers, and subject matter experts on Serious Mental Illness and/or mental health in relation to Cliques and Echo Chambers to review the film proposals and select the teams whose visions would be funded through this project. The expert humans you see here are some of the generous and gracious judges who selected the winning filmmakers for this year’s Voices With Impact program.

Breech Asher Harani

VWI Filmmaker

Breech Asher Harani is an award winning filmmaker and video artist from the Philippines. He creates films, video art, photographs and visual arts that tackle social and environmental issues in Southeast Asia.

Shenuka Corea

VWI Filmmaker

Shenuka Corea is an animator, illustrator, comic artist and visual storyteller from Colombo, Sri Lanka. She is currently a student at the MFA Visual Narrative Program at SVA, New York.

Lucy Rabinowitz Bailey

Mental Health Professional

Lucy Rabinowitz Bailey, MPH, is a mixed-methods health researcher and doctoral student focused on studying and implementing innovative ways of advancing mental health equity.

Jane Carter

Mental Health Professional

Jane E.M. Carter, PhD is a clinical psychologist based in New Haven, Connecticut. Jane is Trinidadian and British, and interested in issues of identity, happiness, wellbeing and narratives that move these.

Nich Perez

Filmmaker

Nich Perez is a Filipino - American filmmaker, educator, producer, creative director and collaborator, researcher, artist, and professional storyteller based in Austin, TX, and Los Angeles, CA.

Dr. Michelle Leff

Mental Health Professional

Dr. Michelle Leff recently retired from the U.S. Public Health Service during which she spent her career in federal government organizations working on substance use issues.

Meagan Brown

VWI Filmmaker

Meagan Brown (she/her) is a Montreal-based film and television editor. Her work has been featured on channels such as CBC and Noovo. When she's not editing, Meagan can usually be found puzzling.

Chen Sing Yap

Filmmaker

Chen Sing Yap is a Singaporean born, Ontario based, editor-writer-director. Before moving to Canada he was a picture editor working primarily in factual television. His latest short film is Desync.

Elizabeth Sinclair Hancq

Mental Health Professional

Elizabeth Sinclair Hancq is the director of research at Treatment Advocacy Center, where she leads the creation of and publishes mental services and policy research related to serious mental illness.

Richard Espinoza

Mental Health Professional

Dr. Richard Espinoza, a passionate advocate of cinematherapy based in Los Angeles, CA, finds the art of storytelling in film to be a powerful medium for conveying essential psychological insights and fostering mental health awareness.

Katelyn Bessette

Mental Health Professional

Katelyn Bessette is the Development Director at Bridges to Change, an Oregon nonprofit providing housing, peer support and behavioral health treatment. BTC hosts the PDX Recovery Film Festival in Portland.

Alex Nystrom

VWI Filmmaker

Alex Nystrom is a Voices With Impact 2022 alum and his short film Four Nights and a Fire has played several festivals including Palm Springs International Shortfest 2023.

Emily Diamond

Mental Health Professional

Dr. Emily Diamond is a professor of clinical psychology, with twenty years of experience in researching health disparity, focusing on trauma and illness. I have had a lifelong passion for the arts.

Nicole Kennedy

VWI Filmmaker

Nicole Kennedy (she/her): a filmmaker, published writer, researcher, and recreation therapist who specializes in mental health. Her work is based upon her own experience with schizophrenia and the associated stigma.

Natalie Cook

Mental Health Advocate

Natalie Cook is a filmmaker-poet. Her poetry film, BACKWARDS GOD, was the 2020 Grand Prize Winner of the AT&T Film Awards. She is the founder of Atlanta Word Works.

Athena Russell

Filmmaker

Athena Russell is an award-winning actress, writer, director and producer. Having amassed a resume of over 45 professional film and TV credits both in front, and behind, the camera.

Ligia Houben

Mental Health Professional

Ligia Houben is a professional Grief Coach, Life Transition Specialist, founder of My Meaningful Life, LLC and The Center for Transforming Lives in Miami.

Michelle Jobes

Mental Health Professional

Dr. Michelle Jobes is a dedicated public servant working in substance use disorder research with an eye and heart always on reducing the stigma of substance use disorders and mental health.

Tam Nguyen

Mental Health Professional

Dr. Tam T. Nguyen is a clinical psychologist and serves as the Director of Ambulatory Mental Health & Addiction Care for Sutter Health. An expert in developing, implementing, and running large-scale mental healthcare projects.

Dylan Dunn

Mental Health Professional

Assistant Director at SAFE Project (Stop the Addiction Fatality Epidemic). Serving over 450 colleges and universities seeking to implement harm reduction, addiction recovery, and anti-stigma initiatives.

Margaret Kroen

Mental Health Professional

Margaret Kroen is a clinical social worker from Baltimore. In her long diverse career, she’s learned that all people have both beauty and pain inside. Art nourishes beauty and sends love to the pain.

Jules Plumadore

Mental Health Advocate

Jules Plumadore is a queer, non-binary mental health activist and educator. Their professional and creative work is informed by lived experiences as a young adult with trauma, homelessness, voices, and visions.

Daksha Arora

Mental Health Professional

Daksha Arora, MS, LCPC, PhD is bi-cultural, a balanced integration of two cultures, Indian and American. She has spent her entire adult life in mental health services helping people live their lives to the fullest.

Jonathan Kieran

Filmmaker

Jonathan Kieran is a film programmer hailing from Essex County, Massachusetts. He currently serves as the Atlanta Film Society’s Programming Director.

Hao Zhou

VWI Filmmaker

Hao Zhou is a filmmaker exploring LGBTQ+ stories and joyful defiance of marginalization. Zhou’s nonfiction and narrative works have been shown by the Berlinale, Outfest, PBS, and other venues.

Julie Colman

Filmmaker

With a background in performing arts, and a passion for inclusion and talent development Julie works as Head of Production across Rural Media's creative portfolio.

Perry Voulgaris

Filmmaker

30+ years developing compelling storytelling, driving creative partnerships, and curating content in screen-based and immersive media for the arts, entertainment and media sectors.

Belen Garcia

VWI Filmmaker

Belen Garcia is a Mexican Cinematographer who lives and creates in Vancouver, Canada. Before making the transition to film she studied animation and photography; practices that continue to influence her perspective.

Rachel Rose

VWI Filmmaker

Rachel Rose is a filmmaker with a history of telling powerful stories and bringing together awesome queer and femme creatives.

Nakia Coursey

Mental Health Professional

Nakia Coursey, MS, LGPC is a Clinical Research Counselor in the Office of the Clinical Director, NIDA IRP. Nakia is a licensed counselor with over 15 years of experience providing services in various areas of mental health.

Randy Kelly

VWI Filmmaker

Randy Kelly is an award-winning film and television director, editor and cameraman based in the Ottawa/Gatineau area in Canada. He loves facilitating humanity’s discovery of itself.

Cassidy Civiero

VWI Filmmaker

Cassidy Civiero is a transgender writer/director who uses heightened imagery to tell stories related to mental health and mindfulness, climate change, and gender and sexuality.

Juan Sosa

Mental Health Professional

Juan Sosa, M.D. is a psychiatrist with sub-specialty training in forensic and addiction psychiatry. Dr. Sosa appreciates the use of various art forms, including film, to highlight and reflect on the impact mental illness has on those diagnosed.

Katie Bendel

Mental Health Professional

Katie is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the US. She is a part-time psychotherapist in group practice, and full-time community mental health advocate at Pathlight Mood & Anxiety Center.

Nic Altobelli

VWI Filmmaker

Nic Altobelli is an independent Producer based in Vancouver, working locally and in Toronto and LA. They are passionate about telling stories that reflect diverse experiences and prioritize improving access to underrepresented artists.

Mikaela Ivanco

Mental Health Professional

Dedicated and creative health promoter with over a decade of experience in the development, implementation and assessment of evidence-based health promotion initiatives, empowering individuals and creating opportunities.

Lindiwe Suttle

Filmmaker

Lindiwe Suttle Müller-Westernhagen is an MBA graduate turned singer-songwriter turned screenwriter-author. Winning Best Screenplay at Holly Shorts Film Festival, Best Film at Paris International Film Festival

Rebecca Miller

Mental Health Professional

Becca Miller, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and Associate Professor in the Yale Department of Psychiatry. She directs Peer Support at Connecticut Mental Health Center.

Stephanie McLaughlin

Mental Health Professional

Dr. McLaughlin is a clinical psychologist who believes in collaborating with patients on how their identities and cultural backgrounds will be considered in treatment.

Rebecca Soffer

Mental Health Professional

Rebecca Soffer is cofounder of Modern Loss, which offers creative, meaningful and encouraging content and community addressing the long arc of grief. She is also the author of the bestselling book The Modern Loss Handbook.

Production Grant

Year round program

The Grant Program starts with Open Call Events, the proposal window opens, the proposals are juried, and filmmakers are informed and production starts!