MYMINDONFILM Events

Presenting the finale of the first My Mind On Film youth mental health short film festival! MMOF received dozens of submissions from Malaysian filmmakers and more than twenty have been selected for the festival.

During the Screening & Awards Ceremony, we were joined by our esteemed guest jurors:

• HRH Tengku Puteri Raja Tengku Puteri Iman Afzan Al-Sultan Abdullah, International Patron of World Mental Health Day 2020

• Dato Dr Andrew Mohanraj, President of Malaysian Mental Health Association and World Federation for Mental Health Board Member

• Edward Lim - GRIM Film Producer

• Ming Han (aka ‘The Ming Thing’) - Malaysian YouTuber, Writer & Director Core Studios

Highlights of the ceremony include:

• Screening of honourable mention and finalists’ films

• Interview with Festival filmmakers

• Announcement of the winners and presentation of awards

The first in a series of festival webinars, My Wellbeing: How to identify and Use Your Strengths, was held on Tuesday evening and attended by over 100 people. During the lively session Dato’ Emeritus Professor Mazlan Othman (Founding Director of the Malaysian National Space Agency), Jeremy Tan (lead on mental health initiative Heads Up!), and Melisha Lin (‘You Are Not Alone’ Ambassador for South East Asia) joined HELP University Associate Professor Dr Eugene Tee to discuss how their experiences and strengths fit into the scientific framework of positive psychology.

Our amazing guests talk about their experiences, successes, and how their unique strengths helped them along the way.

We also share ideas about how strengths can help us through difficult times, how to nurture them, and how they can be beneficial to our mental health and wellbeing.

Creativity, social intelligence, humility, perseverance, leadership, and forgiveness are just some of the unique character strengths. What do you think yours are?

Knowing, and using your character strengths increases feelings of authenticity, allowing you to express yourself in ways that benefit you and the people around you.

The second in a series of festival webinars, My Mental Health: How To Take Care of It, was attended by over 80 people from all over the world – pretty amazing for a Saturday morning Kuala Lumpur time! Malaysian Mental Health Association Clinical Psychologist Tamar Chang hosted the session with guests bringing diverse perspectives on how we define and experience mental health individually, as well as a society, and how that might shape what we can do to make it better.

Prof. Dato’ Dr Andrew Mohanraj, president of the Malaysian Mental Health Association and Board Member of the World Federation for Mental Health will share insights from the local and global perspectives.

Datuk Munirah Abdul Hamid, President of Pertubuhan Tindakan Wanita Islam Malaysia (PERTIWI), has combined a dual career of entrepreneurship and social work for almost five decades. Datuk Munirah will share her experience and passion for engagement with the homeless and urban poor, including those struggling to cope with mental illness.

Salahaddin Pordel, a psychology student at HELP University, is committed to normalising and mainstreaming our conversations around mental health. Talking about his role as a My Mind On Film festival committee member he says: “To be a part of something that helps bring mental to individuals’ dining tables, to their casual everyday talk with a mate, to their here and now feelings and thoughts… leaves me with but the most heartfelt gratitude! Because that’s where mental health belongs, within the individual and among the people, not in universities or in lecture halls.”

For the third of our My Mind On Film festival webinars, we were honoured to welcome Her Royal Highness Tengku Puteri Raja Tengku Puteri Iman Afzan Al-Sultan Abdullah, International Patron of World Mental Health Day 2020. YAM Tengku Puteri is also one of the MMOF festival jurors and you can read a little more about that here.

Our very own Dato Dr Andrew Mohanraj, President of Malayian Mental Health Association and World Federation for Mental Health Board Member was co-host for the discussion which covered the many ways in which our relationships and communities are intertwined with our mental health.

The session built on the themes of relationships, social connection, concern for and from loved ones, and community that emerged clearly during webinars one and two (‘My Wellbeing’ and ‘My Mental Health’, available on our channel or along with other events on our website here). Our esteemed guests brought their expertise, energy, and experience from our own communities as well as those in other parts of the world.

Dato’ Bindi Rajasegaran has been a Rotarian for over two decades and is currently Rotary District Governor Elect. She is the managing partner and administrator of Raja Segaran Consultants, a leading industrial relations and human resource management advisory practice. Dato’ Bindi is also a driving force in the coordination of the National Coalition for Mental Health Initiatives to improve understanding and resources at a societal level.

Dr Khor Swee Kheng is a Malaysian physician with international experience in public, private, non-profit, academic and think-tank sectors across 90 countries. Currently, he specialises in health policies and global health, holding visiting fellowships at the United Nations University International Institute for Global Health (UNU-IIGH) and ISIS Malaysia. He holds postgraduate degrees in internal medicine (Royal College of Physicians), public health (Berkeley) and public policy (Oxford).

Darren Leong was born and raised in Ipoh and is currently a second-year university undergraduate studying economics at UCL (University College London). He is also a committee member of the UK Malaysian Student Film Festival which is the 2020/21 (pandemic contingency!) replacement for the UK-wide ‘Malaysia Night’ that annually brings together thousands of students to celebrate Malaysian traditional culture. We are indeed stronger together, and MSFF is collaborating with MMOF to bring together experiences and ideas around mental health. Darren is keen to contribute to the awareness revolving around this.