Rat race: documentary film, memes and discussion about mental health

RARE DOCS: Rat race is a short documentary film that delves into the themes of youth marginalization and social withdrawal through the voices of youth workers, researchers, and above all, young people themselves. The event is open to all and free of charge.

In the film Rat race, the viewer is carried through the stories of young people who have experienced marginalization, small animated rat pups lost in a laboratory, and a static, photojournalistic narrative that highlights places of exclusion from various fringes of our society. The film creates a dialogue between young people, researchers, and those working with young people – and forces the viewer to examine the exclusionary structures of our society face to face.

Before the documentary screening, Leo Ben Lulu will lead an open meme workshop open for everyone, where participants can express their thoughts on mental health themes and produce social messages in the form of memes. Memes will be created in the workshop by cutting and pasting, so you don’t need any digital tools. The workshop has toured four different cities in secondary educational institutions and youth service leisure facilities.

After the screening, there will be a discussion about mental health and memes. The discussion will be led by Julia Räsänen, a member of the film’s working group, and will include impact and social sector worker Leo Ben Lulu and Linda Lindström, who specializes in memes and meme workshops with a mental health theme.

Finally, we will raise a toast to the young adult mental health activist group Koala’s meme exhibition, which will be on display for its last evening in the Merkki meme alley.
Schedule:

🕒 15:00–17:00 – Meme workshop
🎥 17:00–17:30 – Rat race documentary screening
💬 17:30–18:30 – Discussion: mental health & memes
🥂 18:30 – Toast to Koala’s exhibition
🔚 Event ends at 20:00
Documentary info:

The documentary Rat race was produced by the RARE Media team, and its funders are the Brita Maria Renlund Memorial Foundation, the Saastamoinen Foundation, and the Council for Public Information.

Film duration: 30 minutes. Language: Finnish. Subtitles: Swedish and English. No age limit.