THE Berlin Film Festival jury got it right this year bestowing the Golden Bear on French director Nicolas Philibert’s On the Adamant. A poignant documentary about a Parisian mental health facility on a boat anchored on the Seine. 

The 72-year-old film-maker spent months chronicling the work of the centre, which caters specifically to its patients’ creative needs. What emerges is not only a depiction of warm, enthusiastic psychiatric treatment, but a portrait of several individuals who, despite their noticeable disabilities, produce original artworks. 

This is a movie made relevant by its effort to reverse common preconceptions about mental illness, with candour and depth, but that also displays a distinctive, humane cinematic style.