Pembroke Taparelli's Annual Film Festival
PTAFF 2026
Healing In Community
Stories, Art, and Movement for Mental Wellness
A Festival for Art Connection and Collective Care
Mental health touches every family, every creative community and every neighborhood. Healing in Community creates space for stories that are too often ignored, conversations that are too often delayed and artistic experiences that help us see one another more fully.
Across three days, audiences will experience youth and independent films, filmmaker conversations, a visual art exhibition, dance, industry and community panels, an awards celebration and a closing community healing activation. The program balances honest exploration with hope, creativity, practical resources and pathways toward continued connection.
Three Days of Stories Dialogue and Healing
Stories Art and Movement for Mental Wellness
Friday November 6 Youth Voices and Opening Night
The festival opens with emerging storytellers and expands into a full day of film, civic dialogue, art and celebration. Friday includes the Youth Film Screening, two competitive film blocks, a community conversation on autonomy and crisis intervention, an Artivists United presentation, the Opening Night Mixer and Art Exhibition Reception, and an Opening Night film with conversation.
Saturday November 7 The Artist the Mind and the Work
Saturday examines creativity, identity, career pressure and mental wellness through competitive films, industry dialogue, curated mental health films, visual art and movement. Stay for the full day or build your experience around the film blocks, panels, dance performance and evening spotlight screening.
Sunday November 8 Healing in Community
Sunday centers community care, reflection and a hopeful close. The day brings together films, public dialogue, mental health resources and recognition of artistic excellence. Following the awards, the festival concludes with a shared healing experience designed to help audiences process, connect and move forward together.
Agenda
Friday Schedule
Time
Program
10:00 AM
Arrival registration and youth welcome
11:00 AM
Youth Film Screening and youth filmmaker conversation
1:00 PM
PTAFF Competitive Film Block I and Q and A
3:00 PM
Community Panel 1
4:15 PM
PTAFF Competitive Film Block II and Q and A
6:00 PM
Artivists United Presentation
7:00 PM
Opening Night Mixer and Art Exhibition Reception
8:00 PM
Opening Night Film and Conversation
Saturday Schedule
Time
Program
10:30 AM
Doors open and Art Exhibition
11:00 AM
Competitive Film Block A and Q and A
1:45 PM
Entertainment Panel 1
3:00 PM
Competitive Film Block B and Q and A
5:15 PM
Voices With Impact Film Block
6:15 PM
Entertainment Panel 2
8:00 PM
Dance Performance
8:30 PM
Saturday Spotlight Screening and Conversation
Sunday Schedule
Time
Program
11:00 AM
Doors open and Art Exhibition
11:30 AM
Community Film Program and conversation
1:15 PM
Community Panel 2
3:00 PM
Closing Competitive Film Program and filmmaker conversation
4:45 PM
Awards and 10th Anniversary Recognition
6:00 PM
Community Healing Activation
Conversations That Matter
When Help Is Refused Autonomy Family Crisis and the Ethics of Intervention
Friday at 3:00 PM. Families often watch a loved one deteriorate while struggling to understand when and how the law, clinicians or courts can intervene. This conversation examines the space between doing nothing and coercive hospitalization, including voluntary engagement, crisis response, grave disability, Assisted Outpatient Treatment, CARE Court, psychiatric advance directives, conservatorship and individual rights.
The Cost of the Spotlight Mental Health Suicide Prevention and the Working Artist
Saturday at 1:45 PM. Artists work inside industries shaped by rejection, irregular income, public scrutiny, intense schedules and emotional exposure. This panel examines the conditions that can place creative professionals under strain, meaningful prevention and support, and protections for actors portraying traumatic or emotionally complex material.
What We Put on Screen Mental Health Storytelling Representation and the Duty of Care
Saturday at 6:15 PM. Mental health stories can increase empathy, but they can also reinforce stigma or reduce people to diagnoses. Presented with the Voices With Impact film block, this discussion brings creative and mental health voices together to consider responsibility in both the story and the process of making it.
Before the Breaking Point Building Community Mental Health Before Crisis
Sunday at 1:15 PM. Many people first encounter the mental health system only after a situation becomes an emergency. This community-centered conversation asks what earlier care should look like, including culturally responsive services, peer support, family education, youth services, housing stability, substance-use support and pathways that do not begin with police or an emergency room.
