Film Festival Aims To De-Stigmatize Mental Illness

You know, there are times when mental illness is a laughing matter. And today — Saturday, March 28 — you can see that philosophy in play. A film festival in Boston is screening a documentary called Cracking Up that follows people with mental illness who have trained to do stand-up comedy.

Their teacher is David Granirer. He spoke this week from Vancouver, Canada, with WBUR's health and science reporter Sacha Pfeiffer.

This movie and others — all of which aim to de-stigmatize mental illness — are being screened today at a free film festival at Harvard Medical School sponsored by the Cambridge nonprofit Vinfen.

The festival begins at 10 a.m. at the Joseph B. Martin Conference Center, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston. Cracking Up will be screened at 3:45 p.m.