History

A successful start

The Happy Soul Festival started in 2007 with a pilot project aimed at Asian communities, core-funded by South West London and St George’s NHS Mental Health Trust. Its aim was to raise awareness of mental health issues within Asian communities in a more culturally acceptable way using film, music and performance.

For the first Happy Soul Festival the Odeon Wimbledon and Merton Council offered venues for free. The festival built strong links with several community partners which helped draw in a considerable audience. It was a big success, with new film screenings attracting large audiences and a good deal of media coverage of mental health awareness - in both the local press and national media. This included a 20-minute debate on BBC Radio Four’s Woman’s Hour about mental health and Asian communities. Indian actress Nandita Das was the key guest and proved to be an excellent speaker on her film career, human rights work and mental health awareness.

Happy Soul 2

The second Happy Soul Festival took place from 9 - 16 March 2008 and featured films, music and other events appealing particularly to Black, Asian and Korean communities. It extended its reach across five south-west London boroughs (Kingston-upon-Thames, Merton, Richmond, Sutton and Wandsworth) and featured an appearance by British comedian and writer Meera Syal, a rare screening of director Horace Ove's acclaimed film Pressure, the first black British feature film, and a special pre-release screening of Korean film I'm a Cyborg. Indian actress Konkona Sen Sharma appeared as a special guest, inteviewed by British director Pratibha Parmar.

A new strand to the festival saw young people from Wandsworth and Merton making their own films about their experiences of mental health. In developing these films, the makers explored a wide range of topics, from self-harming and loneliness to gun crime and bullying. Such was the success of the second Happy Soul Festival that it was awarded a Mental Health and Wellbeing Award at the Health and Social Care Awards.

Going from strength to strength

The third Happy Soul festival demonstrated just how much we've grown. A fantastic variety of films and events took place right across South West London, expanding into East London, with film screenings at Rich Mix on Bethnal Green Road.

With community participation, the aim was to sustain and grow the Happy Soul Festival to become a vital link between NHS mental health services and local communities.