Peak solitude

My three decades alone, basking in the company of a mountain

by Susanne Sener

A film still of a man in a black suit airborne above a white staircase under bright stage lights against a dark background.

DANCE

How the acrobat and choreographer Yoann Bourgeois plays with gravity and time

Directed by Raphael Wertheimer

Close-up of an older man in a flat cap and scarf, looking out over a misty rural landscape with blurred farmland in the background.

POETRY

Irish hills, folk music and David Whyte’s poetry form a fleeting, meditative moment

Directed by Andrew Hinton

Photo of a woman submerged to the neck in a natural hot spring, with mountains and mist in the background, creating a serene atmospheric scene.

PHOTOGRAPHY

One photo per day for more than a year, exploring how rituals affect memory

Directed by Scott Thrift

Long-exposure photo of a road at night with blurry, colourful light trails from car headlights and taillights against a dark background.

THE SELF

Self out of joint

Sudden amnesia untethered me from my past. Was I the same person or had I become someone else?

by Steven Hales

A night scene with a warmly lit cabin in the woods. An elderly person is inside, visible through large glass windows.

ARCHITECTURE

From modernist architect, to a life off-grid, a creative life well-lived

Directed by Ryan Malloy

Abstract watercolour painting of figures walking in different directions on a white background.

PLAY

An Oscar-nominated animation that celebrates walking with humans

Directed by Ryan Larkin

Close-up of a colourful, abstract wool sculpture resembling a face with various textures and fibres extending outward.

LOVE

Making love strange to imagine it anew – a startling, award-winning animation

Directed by Anushka Naanayakkara

Photo of a woman’s face reflected in a glass window with soft, abstract focus and greenish tones.

THERAPEUTIC RELATIONSHIPS

More than survival

I suffered from PTSD for 10 years without knowing it. Psychodynamic therapy set me free

by Lucia Osborne-Crowley

A man sitting on a chair in a lush garden with blooming flowers, a cobbled path, and a red garden shed in the background.

PLEASURES AND PASTIMES

A club for ‘dull men’ may just inspire you to see the unremarkable anew

Directed by Andy Oxley

Close-up of a person’s hands using a smartphone at night, with blurred city lights in the background.

SELF-HARM AND SUICIDE

Into the unknown, together

Six months into working a suicide helpline, I became a better conversationalist — and friend

by Natalia Dashan

A sailboat on a calm lake at dusk with snow-capped mountains in the background under a cloudy sky.

MEANING AND THE GOOD LIFE

A boatbuilder above the Arctic Circle works hard at his epicurean life

Directed by Vern Cummins & Jamie Gallant

Colourful pointillistic painting of four figures in patterned clothing on a landscape with trees, likely representing rural life.

TRADITIONAL ARTS

A joyously animated myth retells why painting is prayer to India’s Bhil people

A film by Nina Sabnani and Sher Singh Bhil

A young person dancing with arms extended and hair flying, seen from below, with sky background. Two other excited people watch.

DANCE

A street dance born amid poverty and violence offers a radical form of self-care

Directed by Maceo Frost

A knitted grey toy mouse holds a needle and repairs its own dress. Three balls of yarn lie nearby, alongside a small blue open book.

PLEASURES AND PASTIMES

A whimsical ode to the reparative power of knitting, rendered in wool

Directed by Samantha Moore

Vintage black-and-white photo of two women in swimsuits wearing 1930s hairstyles, lighting one another’s cigarettes.

DRUGS AND PSYCHEDELICS

Exquisite fiend, ephemeral friend

Remember when smoking was the excuse for a sweet pause?

by Caroline Eden