Disturbances

This collection of short films blends animation and drama, reframing a series of distinctive interruptions to everyday lives as powerful opportunities for reflection and exploration.

Through these often unsettling narratives, we are invited to consider what it means to be ‘disturbed’ and how individuals can evolve and grow from these experiences. This unique programme offers an immersive and thought-provoking cinematic journey that challenges perspectives and resonates long after the credits roll.

About the Programme

The Figure in the Carpet d. Fibi Cowley (Scotland, 2024) 7m

Taking place in an abandoned dolls house at nightfall, this story of intrigue and alienation is crafted through doll-making, shadow puppetry and live folie. This film is informed by lived experience of sensory disturbances, and created in conversation with the Change Mental Health Hearing Voices Service, which offers support in Tayside and Fife.


First Contact d. James Crang (Scotland, 2025) 8m

In isolation on the moon, a gardener tends to his small patch of life. When another person appears, he is forced to confront his fears of connection. Will he nurture a bond that could bring light to his lonely existence, or will his anxiety keep him in darkness?


Dear Shop Girl d. Nira Burstein (USA, 2025) 14m

A vintage shop owner contends with a customer looking for what he’ll wear when he kills himself in this black comedy starring Rory Culkin and Lorraine Farris.


Contact Hours d. Harry Richards (UK, 2025) 24m

A university caretaker’s routine is disturbed when he unlocks the door of a student’s room who hasn’t been seen for days. This tragedy prompts him to try and mend the ailing relationship with his son.


A Glass House d. Charles Strider (UK, 2024) 17m

Robin, heartbroken and tending her garden, is confronted by an unexpected visitor whose presence threatens to unearth the past.


As For Me d. Guen Murroni (UK, 2025) 14m

Tina is a hard-working game developer with eleven personalities and a problem with traffic lights. When her ‘alters’ – a pop tart loving seven-year-old called Zelda, a straight-talker called Bobbie – appear in her life, they help her find the missing part of her memory needed to take a long-awaited step.

SMHAF 2025: Comfort & Disturb

Our theme, Comfort & Disturb, references the famous Cesar A Cruz quote that “art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable”. It is a simple expression of the power of art both to challenge and to console, often having a transformative effect on people and societies. The theme was collectively chosen by SMHAF’s team of regional coordinators, along with the arts team from the Mental Health Foundation. Across Scotland, hundreds of programme events have been developed in response to this powerful theme.