A fascinating and unsettling look at the mental health practices of the early twentieth century, Simon Pummell's experimental doc Shock Head Soul examines the case of Daniel Paul Schreber, a respected German lawyer who in 1893 began receiving messages from God. Communicated via a divine “Writing Down Machine,” these messages told Schreber that he was turning into a woman, and that only his complete submission to God's gender-reassignment plan could save the world. Institutionalized for nearly a decade, Schreber spent his time writing Memoirs of My Nervous Illness, a classic of outsider art and an invaluable insight into the effects of schizophrenia.

Featuring re-enactments, trippy CG animation and interviews with psychologists in snazzy period costume, Shock Head Soul is a tremendously engaging journey into the history of mental illness.