Mijn woord tegen het mijne

One in ten people hear voices. In this film by Maasja Ooms, we meet five people who live with this phenomenon. One person has a single voice, another has nineteen. One voice wants to protect, another wants to kill.

The protagonists find themselves in a therapeutic setting, where a psychiatrist – remaining off screen for us – guides a conversation not only about their voices, but also with them. Who are they? Why are they there? What do they actually want? This revolutionary approach appears to open doors for the patients to greater insight into – and acceptance of – what is happening inside their minds.

It is not that the voices reveal themselves easily, for there is something at stake. Across several sessions, trauma surfaces, directly connected to the emergence of the voices. Yet uncovering a hidden past is not where Mijn woord tegen het mijne (My Word Against Mine) places its focus. Instead, the film primarily presents a fascinating group portrait – of both the protagonists and their voices – that reflects the wondrous world of the human mind. 

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On March 28th, the filmmakers and cast members will host a FREE dialogue between mental health professionals, voice hearers, and their families at Grey Space (a 6-minute walk from Filmhuis Den Haag).

The goal: to change the way we look at hearing voices. If you were to hear voices tomorrow, how would you like to be helped? The session is in Dutch. Register here.