Stabbed By Smoke

Dominated by red visuals, the short film is a dimly-lit exploration of a character's struggle with his mental health. The single-character narrative is a grim and gloomy representation of his inner demons and the constant battle he wages with them. From nightmares that threaten to bleed into his reality, to thoughts and voices that perhaps never leave him alone, the film truly is a disconcerting look at schizophrenia.

However, it also runs the danger of over-simplifying the mental disorder by portraying someone who lives with it as inhabiting a reality far from normative society. It borders on perhaps stigmatising the disorder and undoing the fight of several schizophrenic themselves who are working towards raising awareness against this very perception of the disorder. Having said that, the film indeed is noble intentioned, irrespective of whether or not it comes across as being objective in its treatment of its subject.