Rendezvous with Madness
#FIRSTLOOK: 2022 RENDEZVOUS WITH MADNESS FESTIVAL
With the importance of mental health awareness at the forefront of myriad conversations and the world continues to experience the impacts of the pandemic, Workman Arts is today announcing the full line-up for their 30th-anniversary edition of the Rendezvous With Madness Festival – the largest and longest-running arts festival in the world dedicated to the intersection of mental health and artistic expression.
The 2022 festival runs from October 27 – November 6 and presents 13 feature films and two short programs – a total of 30 films from 15 countries – in a hybrid format of virtual and in-person screenings. In addition to this year’s robust film program, the festival includes its annual visual art exhibit – returning to a festival long in gallery format – KIND RENDERINGS, and also features five live performance pieces. 2022 programming will be offered this year at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, the CAMH Auditorium, Workman Arts’ recent home at 651 Dufferin, the Workman Arts Gallery at Artscape Youngplace, and at Comedy Bar. As always, films are complemented by thought-provoking post-screening Q&As and curated panel discussions, extending the uniquely meaningful conversations that define Rendezvous With Madness.
“The 30th anniversary of Rendezvous With Madness in 2022 is an ideal time to continue to deepen much-needed dialogues around mental health, addictions, recovery and wellness,” comments Scott Miller Berry, Interim Executive Artistic Director, Workman Arts. “If the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that we shouldn’t make assumptions about the importance of coming together to share, debate, discuss and learn about mental health as a community.”
Berry continues, “Rendezvous strives to bring audiences and artists together to forge new understandings and perspectives on the most important issues facing humanity – including mental health impacts from social issues such as environmental degradation, racism, gender-based violence, authoritarianism among many others.”
The overarching theme for the festival this year is “More than rebellion,” a statement which embodies the festival’s efforts to normalize informed public discourse around mental health, addiction, recovery, and wellness. More than rebellion means tearing down a broken system in favour of a generational change. This makes every artist featured at RWM 2022 a rebel; they’ve looked at the world and deemed it lacking, so they’ve used their art to hold society to a higher ideal.
In this benchmark anniversary year, Rendezvous With Madness 2022 gets underway on October 27th at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema with the Canadian Premiere of the fearsomely candid documentary, HOW TO SAVE A DEAD FRIEND by Marusya Syroechkovskaya which first bowed at Switzerland’s Visions du Réel festival, where it received a special mention.
“We are thrilled to be opening with HOW TO SAVE A DEAD FRIEND by Marusya Syroechkovskaya, one of the most powerful cinematic portraits we have ever screened. This many-years-in-the-making scrapbook diary meets TikTok documentary follows the young director’s relationship with Kimi, someone whom she shared time with in Moscow’s music scene and in her words, the “bad trip” of Russia’s 21st century,” says Berry. “The couple’s view of their homeland is laid out early in the film and is deeply provocative, and important for Rendezvous to put into our deep discussion context, especially during this time of war: “Everyone knows Russia is for the depressed.”
Documentaries dominate the film line-up, spotlighting deeply personal stories of perseverance through trauma, mental illness, addiction, disability, and more. Other festival highlights include Reid Davenport’s Sundance Film Festival Documentary Directing Award-winner, I DIDN’T SEE YOU THERE, an unflinching exploration of the effects of “othering” on the disabled; Flore Vasseur’s BIGGER THAN US (Cannes 2021) follows 18-year-old Indonesian activist Melati Wijsen alongside other young activists fighting for free speech, food security and equal rights worldwide; winner of the IndieLisboa Award for Best Film, LES PRIÈRES DE DELPHINE (Delphine’s Prayers) byRosine Mbakam is a candid story of courage and strength in the face of racism, misogyny and poverty; the Canadian premiere of EAT YOUR CATFISH by Adam Isenberg, Noah Amir Arjomand and Senem Tüzen (IDFA 2022) is a chronicle of living with ALS and a family at its breaking point; and the Toronto Premiere of MI VACIO Y YO (My Emptiness and I) from Spanish filmmaker Adrian Silvestre (International Film Festival Rotterdam) follows a young trans woman from France to Barcelona as she struggles to define a trans identity of her own while facing social pressure from inside and outside the trans community.
This year’s artist spotlight highlights the work of Liz Roberts, and her powerful first-person documentary MIDWASTE (Hotdocs 2022) tells the story of her relationship with heroin over several decades. Her connection to drug subculture is inextricable from her relationship to the camera; the work opens with her first-ever, becoming more high resolution as Roberts becomes more adept with profound reflection alongside different cameras and techniques. Additionally, the artist spotlight will include a virtual workshop run by Roberts on the process of creating autobiographical films.
The Rendezvous With Madness 2022 film line-up includes two short film programs: IF YOU ASK ME returns for its sixth year, showcasing emerging young filmmakers with mental health and/or addiction experiences from across the country, and UPON, REFLECTION, an anthology of short films by Workman Arts members contemplating the transformative vastness of storytelling.
The festival closes this year with a screening of local artist Luke Galati’s debut feature-length documentary WHEN WE REACH OUT: WHO WILL RESPOND?. Born out of a tense interaction he had with police during a bipolar episode, Galati follows his own mental health journey and spotlights the work of the Toronto Community Crisis Service, a pilot service responding to mental health related calls, as an alternative to police service response.
“We are proud to be closing the festival this year with a Toronto made film submitted to us from our open call this year. WHEN WE REACH OUT: WHO WILL RESPOND? asks a question that has been overlooked for many years and is finally gaining traction after the most recent increase in police brutality: who are the best responders when someone is having a mental health challenge?” offers Berry.“Through interviews with organizers, activists, politicians and friends, the film addresses a community response and overdue alternative to the crisis of police violence toward people with lived mental health experiences which primarily means those who are Indigenous, Black and/or people of colour.”
Rendezvous With Madness 2022 returns to an in-person format for their annual visual arts exhibition, this year entitled KIND RENDERINGS. The exhibit, which brings together six artists from across Canada whose work challenges conventional discourse surrounding mental health and wellness, will be on view at the Workman Arts gallery, Artscape Youngplace from October 27 to November 6. The work in KIND RENDERINGS offers brave and bold windows into the artist’s personal mental health through a myriad of mediums. Inspired by the helplessness of being stuck on a hamster wheel Toronto artists Boozie articulate their mental health through a series of drawings. OCAD graduate Jenny Chen explores the healing of past trauma and depression through her evocative animation Multitude of Fish – Ascension Tale. Jessica Field celebrates the imagination’s power to heal the body through a collection of poetry and A.I. rendered drawings that explore the experience of living with inexplicable illness and pain, love, and loss. Stéphane Alexis’ photo-based project Chains & Crowns is inspired and dedicated to the artist’s mother, depicting the history, politics, science, and psychology behind Black hairstyles. Through Twinkle Banerjee’srelationship with her grandmother, this evocative work explores the partition of India and subsequent generational trauma. The body of work Cinnamon sees artist Wen Tong explore everyday experiences in a suburban setting while creating fantastical interventions.
Rounding out the festival this year is a quartet of live performance works and a comedy showcase. Kicking off the live performance programming is THE FLIN FLON COWBOY from award-winning film and theatre actor Ken Harrower(Boys In Chairs, SummerWorks 2017 Jon Kaplan Spotlight Award-winner). On stage October 29-November 3 at the CAMH Auditorium, THE FLIN FLON COWBOY is a new musical created and performed by Harrower, that tells his life story beginning in Flin Flon, Manitoba, and culminating in his adventures in Toronto as a Queer, Disabled artist. At Comedy Bar on October 30, the comedy and public speaking school MalPensado presents a Comedy Showcase of work by recent graduates. On November 2, the festival presents a duet of short pieces, A VOICE THROUGH THE MELT by Anda Zeng and Natalie Wee, and THE SUICIDE KEY from Laura Piccinin. November 4, Newfoundland songwriter, flutologist, and inspirational speaker Rozalind MacPhail performs in DON’T LET ME FALL TOO FAR, a live music and cinema event that tells a timeless story of self-discovery.
The Rendezvous With Madness Festival is committed to values of inclusivity and accessibility for all guests, staff, volunteers, and artists. In line with Rendezvous’ commitment to being trauma-informed, each program will offer an Active Listener, either on-site or virtually, to help provide self-care and emotional support. Information for accessing support will be available on the website.
Workman Arts’ new location at CAMH, at the McCain Centre for Complex Care and Recovery at 1025 Queen Street West, Workman Arts is now fully wheelchair accessible. ASL interpretation will be provided for select programs. To learn more about accessibility initiatives at Rendezvous visit www.workmanarts.com
Tickets for Rendezvous With Madness events will be available for online booking beginning October 7th at 10:00am EST. All tickets are pay-what-you-wish. Please note that this year there are limited walk-up sales due to COVID-19 and advance online ticket
With the importance of mental health awareness at the forefront of myriad conversations and the world continues to experience the impacts of the pandemic, Workman Arts is today announcing the full line-up for their 30th-anniversary edition of the Rendezvous With Madness Festival – the largest and longest-running arts festival in the world dedicated to the intersection of mental health and artistic expression.
The 2022 festival runs from October 27 – November 6 and presents 13 feature films and two short programs – a total of 30 films from 15 countries – in a hybrid format of virtual and in-person screenings. In addition to this year’s robust film program, the festival includes its annual visual art exhibit – returning to a festival long in gallery format – KIND RENDERINGS, and also features five live performance pieces. 2022 programming will be offered this year at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, the CAMH Auditorium, Workman Arts’ recent home at 651 Dufferin, the Workman Arts Gallery at Artscape Youngplace, and at Comedy Bar. As always, films are complemented by thought-provoking post-screening Q&As and curated panel discussions, extending the uniquely meaningful conversations that define Rendezvous With Madness.
“The 30th anniversary of Rendezvous With Madness in 2022 is an ideal time to continue to deepen much-needed dialogues around mental health, addictions, recovery and wellness,” comments Scott Miller Berry, Interim Executive Artistic Director, Workman Arts. “If the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that we shouldn’t make assumptions about the importance of coming together to share, debate, discuss and learn about mental health as a community.”
Berry continues, “Rendezvous strives to bring audiences and artists together to forge new understandings and perspectives on the most important issues facing humanity – including mental health impacts from social issues such as environmental degradation, racism, gender-based violence, authoritarianism among many others.”
The overarching theme for the festival this year is “More than rebellion,” a statement which embodies the festival’s efforts to normalize informed public discourse around mental health, addiction, recovery, and wellness. More than rebellion means tearing down a broken system in favour of a generational change. This makes every artist featured at RWM 2022 a rebel; they’ve looked at the world and deemed it lacking, so they’ve used their art to hold society to a higher ideal.
In this benchmark anniversary year, Rendezvous With Madness 2022 gets underway on October 27th at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema with the Canadian Premiere of the fearsomely candid documentary, HOW TO SAVE A DEAD FRIEND by Marusya Syroechkovskaya which first bowed at Switzerland’s Visions du Réel festival, where it received a special mention.
“We are thrilled to be opening with HOW TO SAVE A DEAD FRIEND by Marusya Syroechkovskaya, one of the most powerful cinematic portraits we have ever screened. This many-years-in-the-making scrapbook diary meets TikTok documentary follows the young director’s relationship with Kimi, someone whom she shared time with in Moscow’s music scene and in her words, the “bad trip” of Russia’s 21st century,” says Berry. “The couple’s view of their homeland is laid out early in the film and is deeply provocative, and important for Rendezvous to put into our deep discussion context, especially during this time of war: “Everyone knows Russia is for the depressed.”
Documentaries dominate the film line-up, spotlighting deeply personal stories of perseverance through trauma, mental illness, addiction, disability, and more. Other festival highlights include Reid Davenport’s Sundance Film Festival Documentary Directing Award-winner, I DIDN’T SEE YOU THERE, an unflinching exploration of the effects of “othering” on the disabled; Flore Vasseur’s BIGGER THAN US (Cannes 2021) follows 18-year-old Indonesian activist Melati Wijsen alongside other young activists fighting for free speech, food security and equal rights worldwide; winner of the IndieLisboa Award for Best Film, LES PRIÈRES DE DELPHINE (Delphine’s Prayers) byRosine Mbakam is a candid story of courage and strength in the face of racism, misogyny and poverty; the Canadian premiere of EAT YOUR CATFISH by Adam Isenberg, Noah Amir Arjomand and Senem Tüzen (IDFA 2022) is a chronicle of living with ALS and a family at its breaking point; and the Toronto Premiere of MI VACIO Y YO (My Emptiness and I) from Spanish filmmaker Adrian Silvestre (International Film Festival Rotterdam) follows a young trans woman from France to Barcelona as she struggles to define a trans identity of her own while facing social pressure from inside and outside the trans community.
This year’s artist spotlight highlights the work of Liz Roberts, and her powerful first-person documentary MIDWASTE (Hotdocs 2022) tells the story of her relationship with heroin over several decades. Her connection to drug subculture is inextricable from her relationship to the camera; the work opens with her first-ever, becoming more high resolution as Roberts becomes more adept with profound reflection alongside different cameras and techniques. Additionally, the artist spotlight will include a virtual workshop run by Roberts on the process of creating autobiographical films.
The Rendezvous With Madness 2022 film line-up includes two short film programs: IF YOU ASK ME returns for its sixth year, showcasing emerging young filmmakers with mental health and/or addiction experiences from across the country, and UPON, REFLECTION, an anthology of short films by Workman Arts members contemplating the transformative vastness of storytelling.
The festival closes this year with a screening of local artist Luke Galati’s debut feature-length documentary WHEN WE REACH OUT: WHO WILL RESPOND?. Born out of a tense interaction he had with police during a bipolar episode, Galati follows his own mental health journey and spotlights the work of the Toronto Community Crisis Service, a pilot service responding to mental health related calls, as an alternative to police service response.
“We are proud to be closing the festival this year with a Toronto made film submitted to us from our open call this year. WHEN WE REACH OUT: WHO WILL RESPOND? asks a question that has been overlooked for many years and is finally gaining traction after the most recent increase in police brutality: who are the best responders when someone is having a mental health challenge?” offers Berry.“Through interviews with organizers, activists, politicians and friends, the film addresses a community response and overdue alternative to the crisis of police violence toward people with lived mental health experiences which primarily means those who are Indigenous, Black and/or people of colour.”
Rendezvous With Madness 2022 returns to an in-person format for their annual visual arts exhibition, this year entitled KIND RENDERINGS. The exhibit, which brings together six artists from across Canada whose work challenges conventional discourse surrounding mental health and wellness, will be on view at the Workman Arts gallery, Artscape Youngplace from October 27 to November 6. The work in KIND RENDERINGS offers brave and bold windows into the artist’s personal mental health through a myriad of mediums. Inspired by the helplessness of being stuck on a hamster wheel Toronto artists Boozie articulate their mental health through a series of drawings. OCAD graduate Jenny Chen explores the healing of past trauma and depression through her evocative animation Multitude of Fish – Ascension Tale. Jessica Field celebrates the imagination’s power to heal the body through a collection of poetry and A.I. rendered drawings that explore the experience of living with inexplicable illness and pain, love, and loss. Stéphane Alexis’ photo-based project Chains & Crowns is inspired and dedicated to the artist’s mother, depicting the history, politics, science, and psychology behind Black hairstyles. Through Twinkle Banerjee’srelationship with her grandmother, this evocative work explores the partition of India and subsequent generational trauma. The body of work Cinnamon sees artist Wen Tong explore everyday experiences in a suburban setting while creating fantastical interventions.
Rounding out the festival this year is a quartet of live performance works and a comedy showcase. Kicking off the live performance programming is THE FLIN FLON COWBOY from award-winning film and theatre actor Ken Harrower(Boys In Chairs, SummerWorks 2017 Jon Kaplan Spotlight Award-winner). On stage October 29-November 3 at the CAMH Auditorium, THE FLIN FLON COWBOY is a new musical created and performed by Harrower, that tells his life story beginning in Flin Flon, Manitoba, and culminating in his adventures in Toronto as a Queer, Disabled artist. At Comedy Bar on October 30, the comedy and public speaking school MalPensado presents a Comedy Showcase of work by recent graduates. On November 2, the festival presents a duet of short pieces, A VOICE THROUGH THE MELT by Anda Zeng and Natalie Wee, and THE SUICIDE KEY from Laura Piccinin. November 4, Newfoundland songwriter, flutologist, and inspirational speaker Rozalind MacPhail performs in DON’T LET ME FALL TOO FAR, a live music and cinema event that tells a timeless story of self-discovery.
The Rendezvous With Madness Festival is committed to values of inclusivity and accessibility for all guests, staff, volunteers, and artists. In line with Rendezvous’ commitment to being trauma-informed, each program will offer an Active Listener, either on-site or virtually, to help provide self-care and emotional support. Information for accessing support will be available on the website.
Workman Arts’ new location at CAMH, at the McCain Centre for Complex Care and Recovery at 1025 Queen Street West, Workman Arts is now fully wheelchair accessible. ASL interpretation will be provided for select programs. To learn more about accessibility initiatives at Rendezvous visit www.workmanarts.com
Tickets for Rendezvous With Madness events will be available for online booking beginning October 7th at 10:00am EST. All tickets are pay-what-you-wish. Please note that this year there are limited walk-up sales due to COVID-19 and advance online ticket booking is recommended.
Media contact:
Suzanne Cheriton, RedEye Media, suzanne@redeyemedia.ca, 416-805-6744
is recommended.
Media contact:
Suzanne Cheriton, RedEye Media, suzanne@redeyemedia.ca, 416-805-6744
#FIRSTLOOK: RENDEZVOUS WITH MADNESS 2021 FESTIVAL LINE-UP
The 29th edition of the Rendezvous with Madness Festival runs from October 28 – November 7, 2021. Comprised of 18 feature films and five short programs – a total of 68 films from 18 countries – the Festival will be available in a hybrid format of virtual and in-person screenings. Films will be accompanied by Q&As. The venue will be Workman Arts’ new permanent home at 1025 Queen Street West in Toronto.
The Festival this year opens with Elle–Máijá Tailfeathers‘ KÍMMAPIIYIPITSSINI: THE MEANING OF EMPATHY. Tailfeathers can be seen currently in NIGHT RAIDERS, which just premiered at TIFF ’21.
List of Programming at this year’s Festival:
OPENING NIGHT FILM
KÍMMAPIIYIPITSSINI: THE MEANING OF EMPATHY (2021) D: Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers | CANADA | Documentary | 124 MIN + PANEL
IN-PERSON SCREENING – Thursday, Oct 28, 6:30 PM
WATCH ONLINE Oct 28 – Nov 7 available across Canada
Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy chronicles the impact of the opioid crisis on Indigenous communities. Tailfeathers focuses on Alberta’s Kainai First Nation, where her mother, Dr. Esther Tailfeathers, works tirelessly to support and educate families affected by the overdose epidemic. The film presents viewers with a series of first-hand accounts from local first responders, healthcare professionals, and people with substance-use disorder.
Kímmapiiyipitssini is a Blackfoot word for empathy and kindness. The Meaning of Empathy explains why embracing this practice is critical to combating addictions. Criminalizing drug use does not address the root problem; a legacy of colonialism and intergenerational trauma inflicted by racist government policies. The film reveals the merits of this new approach, even as it faces resistance from conservative policymakers. Tailfeathers has crafted one of the year’s most powerful films, chronicling the Kainai First Nation’s struggles, while honouring its strength and resilience.
RETRO RENDEZVOUS HALLOWEEN:SAFE (1995) D: Todd Haynes | UK/USA | 119 MIN
IN-PERSON SCREENING Sun, Oct 31, 8 PM
WATCH ONLINE Sun, Oct 31, 8-10 PM ET available across Canada
We’re thrilled to be presenting a special 25th-ish anniversary screening of the seminal film Safe by Todd Haynes, which was presented at the third Rendezvous With Madness in 1995. The timing of this retrospective cannot be separated from the current coronavirus pandemic we’ve all been living through since spring 2020; nor can the serendipitous timing of Halloween; this is a quintessential horror film as seen through the character of Carol White (played magnificently by Julianne Moore). Director Todd Haynes set the film in 1987 and follows White, a well-to-do California housewife who suddenly finds herself struggling to breathe while doctors continually insist that nothing is amiss with her health. Before long, Carol self-diagnoses herself to be reacting to the toxic chemicals around her, stating emphatically that she’s “allergic to the 20th century.” When Safe was originally released many viewers viewed Carol’s plight as a metaphor for the HIV/AIDS epidemic; in 2021 it’s both that pandemic and the current one that will leave their marks on you long after the film’s credits roll.
THIRZA CUTHAND ARTIST SPOTLIGHT (2001-2021) CANADA | 67 MIN + Q&A | Short Film
IN-PERSON SCREENING Wed, Nov 3, 6:30 PM
WATCH ONLINE Oct 29 – Nov 7 available across Canada
IN-PERSON + VIRTUAL Q&A WITH ARTIST Wed, Nov 3, 7:45 PM ET
Rendezvous is thrilled to be presenting a solo artist spotlight on Thirza Cuthand, a prolific artist who works across multiple disciplines to explore interconnected issues related to madness, queer identities, Indigeneity, and oh yes, sex and sexuality.
EXTRACTIONS (2020 | 15 min) A personal film about so-called Canada’s extraction industries and the detrimental effects on the land and Indigenous peoples.
ANHEDONIA (2001 | 9 min) Depression and suicide are met head on in this confessional piece. Anhedonia urges the viewer to open their eyes to the source of illness in Indigenous communities.
SIGHT (2012 | 3 min) Super 8 footage layered with Sharpie marker lines and circles obscuring the image illustrates the filmmaker’s experiences with temporary episodes of migraine-related blindness and her cousin’s self-induced blindness.
LOVE & NUMBERS (2004 | 8 min) A Two Spirited woman surrounded by spy signals and psychiatric walls attempts to make sense of love, global paranoia, and her place in the history of colonialism.
LESS LETHAL FETISHES (2019 | 9 min) “Not a sex video. Maybe a sexy video? About a latent gas mask fetish, but maybe actually about a certain art world tear gas controversy the filmmaker was involved in.” – T.C.
MEDICINE BUNDLE (2020 | 9 min) “A film about a bundle that was used in my family to heal by Great Great Grandfather from a smallpox epidemic and a life-threatening wound from a gun used against him during the Battle of Cutknife Hill in 1885.” – T.C.
WOMAN DRESS (2019 | 6 min) A recent short compiling archival images and dramatized re-enactments, this film shares a Cuthand family oral story, honouring and respecting Woman Dress without imposing colonial binaries on them.
NEUROTRANSMITTING (2021 | 8 min) In this brand-new piece, Thirza and her mother Ruth explore wellness as it connects to mental health, psychiatric institutions, family, and the medical industrial complex. The intimate conversation is held over a backdrop of Ruth’s beaded scans of brains affected by mental illness.
CLOSING FILM
DRUNK ON TOO MUCH LIFE (2021) D: Michelle Melles | CANADA | 77 MIN + PANEL | WORLD PREMIERE | Documentary
IN-PERSON SCREENING Sat, Nov 6, 6:30 PM
WATCH ONLINE Oct 29 – Nov 7 available across Canada
IN-PERSON + VIRTUAL PANEL DISCUSSION Sat, Nov 6, 8:15 PM ET
What does it mean to be normal in a world gone mad? That’s the question at the heart of writer-director Michelle Melles’ poignant documentary, Drunk on Too Much Life. The film strives to change how people perceive those with mental health issues, framing their conditions as potentially insightful gifts rather than burdensome disorders.
Drunk on Too Much Life focuses on Melles’ daughter, Corrina Orrego, a young woman who has experienced mental illness for much of her adult life. Corrina describes herself as “being trapped inside her own mind games.” Now, after years of doctors, medications and mental health facility check-ins, her family starts exploring healing methods outside of standard biomedical models. These alternative treatments positively impact Corrina, reflecting the healing power of art, creativity, and meaningful human connections.
ANNY (2020) D: Helena Třeštíková | CZECH REPUBLIC | 67 MIN + Q&A LANGUAGE: Czech with English subtitles CANADIAN PREMIERE | Documentary
WATCH ONLINE Oct 29 – Nov 7 in Ontario only
PRE-RECORDED VIRTUAL Q&A Available with the film
Anny became a sex worker at the age of 46, and since then has kept returning to the streets of Prague, rain or shine, as cars pass by her at a snail’s pace. Director Helena Třeštíková recorded Anny between 1996 to 2012 as is her unique approach: she follows ordinary people for years in what she’s dubbed “time-lapse documentaries.” These carefully crafted portraits indirectly capture larger lines of histories — in this case, the economic crisis years that sometimes prompt Anny to reflect on communism. Gently edited, this documentary shifts in time between Anny slowly growing older and her daily life that is often challenging, filled with concerns about her grandchildren and her failing health. An insightful portrait of a person who, with courage and determination, carries on despite life’s surprises.
JACINTA (2020) D: Jessica Earnshaw | USA | 105 MIN | CANADIAN PREMIERE |Documentary
WATCH ONLINE Oct 29 – Nov 7 available across Canada
Filmed for over the course of three years, this documentary begins at the Maine Correctional Center where Jacinta, 26, and her mother Rosemary, 46, are incarcerated together, both recovering from drug addictions. As a child, Jacinta became entangled in her mother’s world of drugs and crime and has followed her in and out of the system since she was a teenager. This time, as Jacinta is released from prison, she hopes to maintain her sobriety and reconnect with her own daughter, Caylynn, 10, who lives with her paternal grandparents. Despite her desire to rebuild her life for her daughter, Jacinta continually struggles against the forces that first led to her addiction. With unparalleled access and a gripping vérité approach, director Jessica Earnshaw paints a deeply intimate portrait of mothers and daughters and the effects of trauma over generations.
LUGINSKY (2020) D: Haiena | JAPAN | 63 MIN + Q&A LANGUAGE: Japanese with English subtitles NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
WATCH ONLINE Oct 29 – Nov 7 available across Canada
VIRTUAL PANEL DISCUSSION Tues. Nov 2, 8 PM ET
Winner of the Cinema Fan Award at the 2020 PIA Film Festival at the National Film Archive of Japan, Luginsky is an incredibly unique animated film replete with early and modern computer graphics, still photography and a collage of cut-outs, which are dizzyingly utilized to maximum effect to tell a story which seems as delirious as the protagonist. The main character of the film is named Deerman, whose head is a deer and who recently endured an accident resulting in chronic hallucinations. Deerman has recently lost his job, and in a series of events that led him to become reliant on alcohol, frequently is beaten up as a result of his drunken behaviours. His addiction takes an even worse turn when he stumbles upon a panther-barman-priest who creates a forbidden cocktail for Deerman designed by an ex-boxer named Luginsky that alters his life even further with so-called reality and fantasy dancing in unprecedented ways. A most unique film of fantastical visions you won’t soon forget.
NORTH BY CURRENT (2021) D: Angelo Madsen Minax | USA | 76 MIN + Q&A | CANADIAN PREMIERE | Documentary
WATCH ONLINE Oct 29 – Nov 7 available across Canada
PRERECORDED VIRTUAL Q&A available with the film
After the inconclusive death of his young niece, filmmaker Angelo Madsen Minax returns to his rural Michigan hometown to make a film about a broken criminal justice system. Instead, he pivots to excavate the depths of generational addiction, Christian fervor and trans embodiment. Lyrically assembled images, decades of home movies and ethereal narration form an idiosyncratic and poetic undertow that guide a viewer through lifetimes and relationships. Like the relentless Michigan seasons, the meaning of family shifts, as Madsen Minax, his sister and his parents strive tirelessly to accept each other. Poised to incite more internal searching than provide clear statements or easy answers, North By Current dives head-first into the challenges of creating identity, the agony of growing up and the ever-fickle nuances of family.
POLY STYRENE: I AM A CLICHÉ (2021) D: Celeste Bell, Paul Sng | UK | 96 MIN |Documentary
WATCH ONLINE Oct 29 – Nov 7 available across Canada
Marianne Joan Elliott-Said (aka Poly Styrene) is a punk rock legend. She entered the music business as a rebellious teenager with big dreams and then willed those dreams into reality. As the frontwoman for her band X-Ray Spex, Poly Styrene was the first Black woman in the UK to front a successful rock band. She would go on to earn legions of fans by producing defiant songs about consumerism, class, and racial identity.
Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché looks at the icon’s life and career from the perspective of her daughter, the film’s co-director, Celeste Bell. Bell uses archival footage, electrifying live performances, and her mother’s diary entries to celebrate Marianne Joan Elliott-Said, and Poly Styrene. Narrated by Oscar-nominee Ruth Negga, this intimate portrait of a punk icon offers a candid look at a reluctant public figure who struggled with fame while battling mental illness.
IN(SITE)
A Virtual Exhibition
In-site, Incite, & Insight
Rather than experience the festival’s exhibition onsite, this year we experience it “in-site” — in a website, in the digital world, in the virtual. The works in the festival this year have been selected with the intention of being experienced virtually.
The artists bring insight to their experiences of the world having changed, how it continues to change and what this change can offer. This includes our growing awareness around mental health, our relationships with both the physical and digital worlds, and how the works can incite us into action. The exhibiting works investigate these themes and more, providing room to engage with the arts in a time when interacting and experiencing work has been significantly impacted. Through these works, we recognize that we are in the moment, in the current, in the site. For full listing of artists in the exhibit visit https://workmanarts.com/rwm-events/insite/
TRUE
Presented by Project Undertow
Written and directed by Rosa Laborde
Various showtimes from Friday, October 29th to Friday, November 5th at 1025 Queen St. West.
With inspiration from King Lear and multiverse theory, Rosa Laborde’s True follows three sisters hurtled back in time with the unexpected arrival of their estranged father who now lives with Alzheimer’s. The play is a tightly woven, poignant, and piercing look into the nature of memory. With Maev Beatty, Layne Coleman, Beau Dixon, Ingrid Doucet, and Shannon Taylor.
More here.
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