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The key focus of this chapter is Animated Minds (2003), a series of short documentaries created in the UK to raise public awareness of different forms of mental distress including schizophrenia, agoraphobia, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and self-harm. These documentaries were created in a collaborative manner, and use real testimony for their soundtrack and various animation techniques by professional animators. By bringing together scholarship on the animated documentary as a genre and on witnessing in illness narratives, the analysis examines the animated documentary’s evocative power, which allows it to penetrate subjective experiences that are difficult to represent, and the ethical encounters it stages for viewers. As the only chapter of this book to explicitly discuss mental health issues, it also returns to common critiques of narrative/narrativity in the field of illness narratives, specifically the problematic assumption that certain forms of mental distress are inherently ‘anti-narrative’. By looking closely at the Animated Minds audio testimonies, the chapter underlines the urgency of paying attention to such narratives and the experiences they document, many of which are surrounded with stigma, beyond an emphasis on pathology.

This chapter looks at the form of Ari Folman's Waltz with Bashir and confirms whether it is an animated work of fiction or an animated documentary, or even both. It discusses how Waltz with Bashir was never originally promoted as a documentary and analyses the original Hebrew movie poster that simply gives the film's title, while the English language version says in small print 'based on a true story'. It also discloses how Waltz with Bashir has been praised for accurately portraying the more unreliable psychological state of the traumatised soldier through animated dreams and flashbacks. The chapter examines the distinction between how Waltz with Bashir was originally promoted and how it became to be defined as crucial. It points out how the viewer's expectations would have been different if Waltz with Bashir had been initially advertised as a documentary concerning Israel's role during the Sabra and Shatila massacres.

The author shares her directorial experience in the making of her short film where she invited her aunt to participate in the production process. As her aunt had been diagnosed with schizophrenia in the past and was going through depression when the film was planned, it was supposed that perhaps the film-making process would help improve her mental health with her being part of a creative project. From script-writing, to acting, and even animating, the author had fully engaged her aunt from start to finish. The essay documents the author’s reflections of her aunt’s participation and how her sense of mental wellbeing improved dramatically as the film project progressed. The issue of exploitation is also considered in the essay as there is a difference between engagement and empowerment as opposed to deception and participation. Though the film did not win any awards at the 48-Hour Film Festival; the cinematic therapy experience highlighted the potential of seeking new pathways in supporting mental health patients.