The theme for this year’s Rendezvous with Madness festival is “Shine Together.” The upbeat tag echoes the inspirational adage from Moira Rose, who turned audiences’ frowns upside-down with the reminder: “When one of us shines, all of us shine.” It’s a sunny (or rosy) bit of advice for a festival in which the movies are rarely an easy watch.
But many of the documentary highlights at the festival, which runs in Toronto October 25 to November 3 with select online encores running afterwards, offer useful case studies in talking through trauma, spotlighting conversations about mental health and the positive effects of confronting the pain together. Coming at a moment in the calendar when simply looking at the number of film festivals in Toronto can be daunting, the festival encourages audiences to take part in the conversation with many post-screening discussions with filmmakers and community leaders eager to engage with questions of mental health and addiction. Consider it film with therapy instead of popcorn.
Here are some documentary highlights at this year’s Rendezvous with Madness festival.
Ink, Blood, and Socks
POV is pleased to co-present the Canadian premiere of this documentary at Rendezvous with Madness. This totally punk portrait of leaving one’s mark on the world introduces audiences to graffiti artist Hanna Finn, aka Psykos. She gets candid about her experiences with mental health struggles and addiction, describing a “self-inflicted” state of isolation where she feels like an outsider from society’s outsiders. She finds herself in a “perpetual state of defiance” and fitting in is a daily battle. As she tags her name on buildings, walls, and skate parks across Sweden, Psykos rebelliously challenges the status quo, questions normalcy, and rejects the idea of prescribed routes. Ink, Blood, and Socks uses one person’s offbeat story to remind others that every person’s journey takes a different path.
Want to attend the screening? We have two pairs of tickets to give away! Email info@povmagazine.com with your full name to attend Wednesday, Oct. 30 at 8:00pm.
WaaPaKe (Tomorrow)
Rendezvous with Madness kicks off with a Toronto encore of the award winning documentary WaaPaKe. After screening at last year’s imagineNATIVE festival, WaaPaKe returns to Toronto to engage audiences with the cathartic art of conversation. Tough but necessary talks fuel Jules Koostachin’s NFB documentary, which observes as Koostachin engages her family and friends in an exercise in exploring intergenerational trauma. WaaPaKe considers the plight of future generations as Koostachin, her mother, and her son reflect upon the violence of the residential schools and how her mother’s trauma was passed down between generations. While the film invites an open forum for tackling a heavy topic, WaaPaKe is especially notable for the attention to production protocols that are sensitive to the experiences of Indigenous participants, abuse survivors, and those who are not present to tell their stories. The film puts in practice many of the ideas for respectful storytelling that have been filtering through the film community. Read more in our review of the film.
A Man Imagined
A compelling slice of cinéma vérité comes in this character study by Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky. The NFB documentary observes the daily life of Lloyd, an unhoused man in Montreal taking it day by day. The film follows Lloyd throughout the streets as he wanders around, collects discarded treasures, and relishes the heat blasted through an open duct. This is a frank and raw portrait of life on the streets. “A Man Imagined is laudable precisely because the film doesn’t attempt to explain away the mystery,” writes Matthew Hays in his review for the film. “Like many people living on the street, or moving from shelter to shelter, Lloyd’s existence is about a combination of societal failure, personal anguish and mental health. The film’s ambiguity is a key part of its beauty and strength.”
My Dad’s Tapes
An important—and intimate—conversation about mental health comes in Kurtis Watson’s impressive feature debut. My Dad’s Tapes sees the Peterborough native return home in search of closure as he invites his mother and sisters to discuss a topic that often goes unspoken in their family: their father’s suicide. Watson revisits the disappearance of his dad, who left home and never came back when Kurtis was only eight years old, and considers the impact of stigma and silence on his own struggles with mental health. Key to unlocking the mystery are years’ worth of home videos in which Watson’s father captured family life. The process of revisiting these tapes and memories affords Watson much-needed encouragement to identify the burden of carrying secrets. It seems fitting that these images inspire such an impressive and sensitive feature directorial debut. Read more in the POV review and stay tuned for an interview with Watson.
1001 Days
Three women— Zanele, Thandiwe, and Khosi—are at the front lines fighting an epidemic of violence against women in Sout Africa. 1001 Days observes how mothers inspire change in a country in which at least two thirds of women are survivors of sexual abuse. The film charts the efforts of these three women as they guide new mothers to provide the best futures for their babies by focusing on the first three months of a child’s life. It’s not an easy film, but a refreshingly optimistic portrait of resilient women working together to break a cycle of violence.
Peter Doherty: Stranger in My Own Skin
Audiences looking for something within the music doc wheelhouse, but one that doesn’t follow the typical greatest hits convention will find it in this unflinching look at Pete Doherty, the frontman of bands The Libertines and Babyshambles. This intimate film shot by Doherty’s now-wife Katia de Vidas examines the singer’s tumultuous relationship with hard drugs. It’s an unflinching portrait of addiction, the story of one rocker among many wrestling with the addictions that come with fame. The film draws upon 15 years of material that de Vidas began shooting in 2006, capturing all the “highs” and lows of his career. It’s a very difficult film, so audiences should be warned of scenes featuring Doherty doing hard drugs and asking de Vidas to turn the cameras off because he’s worried about overdosing on film. She keeps rolling though and the result is brutally sobering.