Streaming across Canada October 27th to November 6th
GEMMEL & TIM
Michiel Thomas | 2021 | United States | 91 minutes | English
Rendezvous With Madness is pleased to present the award-winning documentary film Gemmel & Tim directed by Michiel Thomas available for streaming across Canada from October 27th to November 6th
In the span of 18 months, two gay Black men died of drug overdoses inside the West Hollywood home of political donor Ed Buck. Yet, it was four years (and many public protests) before a federal jury convicted Buck for his crimes. Writer-director Michiel Thomas’s documentary Gemmel & Tim tells the story of Gemmel Moore and Timothy Dean, the two men who died in Buck’s home under suspicious circumstances.
Throughout the film, their family and friends reminisce about their lives and share the shocking details surrounding their deaths. The film paints a touching portrait of love and regret as friends and family come to grips with the tragic loss of their loved ones. Gemmel & Tim is also a scathing indictment of America’s broken justice system, calling out the blatant racial inequalities persisting decades after the abolition of Jim Crow.
Screening with
Lay Me By The Shore | David Findlay | 2022 | Canada | 18 minutes | English
Introducing a young cast of first-time actors, Lay Me by the Shore follows a week in the life of Noah, a high school senior in his final days of school as he comes to terms with his best friend’s passing. Bathed in the warm light of long June days and with the intimidating spectre of an unknown future looming, the tale is told from the perspective of the recently departed. Through the prism of grief, the film highlights the raw and potent emotions of youth.
Keywords: Addictions | Racism | Class | Overdose | Trauma
Genre: Documentary (feature) Documentary (short)
#RWMFEST #MoreThanRebellion
Streaming across Canada October 27th to November 6th
二〇二〇年的一场雨 | RAIN IN 2020
Lee Yong Chao | 2021 | Myanmar, Taiwan | 79 mins | Burmese and Chinese with English Subtitles | Canadian Premiere
Rendezvous With Madness is pleased to present the extraordinary documentary film Rain In 2020 directed by Lee Yong Chao available for streaming across Canada from October 27th to November 6th
Rain in 2020 took director Lee Yong Chao seven years to make. It intimately documents a family coping with the constantly changing situations in Myanmar. Amid the pandemic in 2020, a torrential rain caused the family and the entire village to live their daily lives in the flooding sewage. Nobody knows when the muddy water will be gone and what will come after the storm.
“At the beginning of 2020, I was in the process of filming The Bad Man in Myanmar. The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 forced me to stay at home. Meanwhile, I was suffering from some health issues when the tragedy of a major fatal collapse of a jade mine in Pakant, I could do nothing but worry every single day about my brother who worked in the mine. Month after month, the pandemic in Myanmar became more and more out of control, which prevented me from returning to Taiwan. Various factors interweaving, triggered my anger and doubts toward things which happened in Myanmar society in recent years. In mid-September, there was a sudden rainfall. Along with the flood, I let out my long accumulated dissatisfaction with people’s daily life in my hometown in Myanmar over the years.” – Lee Yong Chao
Keywords: Environmental Catastrophe | Dictatorship | Pandemic | Anxiety | Resource Extraction
Genre: Documentary
#RWMFEST #MoreThanRebellion
In person screening — Saturday, October 29th at 7 PM
Camh Auditorium
1025 Queen Street West, Toronto
Streaming across Canada October 27th to November 6th
MIS DOS VOCES / MY TWO VOICES
Lina Rodriguez | 2022 | Canada | 68 minutes | Spanish with English subtitles
On October 27th at Rendezvous With Madness enjoy an in person screening of the film Mis Dos Voces / My Two Voices directed by Colombian/Canadian filmmaker Lina Rodriguez. Post-film talk moderated by Tamara Toledo
In My Two Voices, Canadian director Lina Rodriguez paints a lyrical and truly unique portrait of what it means to be an immigrant and how this can affect one’s sense of self. Shot with luminous 16mm film, the documentary introduces audiences to three Latina women who gradually reveal their individual migration stories, discuss the inherent challenges in starting afresh in a new country and explore how those difficult experiences have shaped their lives. Though their origins differ greatly, all three have faced similar struggles with language and belonging as they attempt to balance their present with complicated memories of the past. Rodriguez allows the identities of these women to remain concealed throughout and, instead, useså their voices to shift perspectives and reframe their emotional journeys of self-discovery and understanding. My Two Voices is a thoughtfully constructed cinematic ode to resilience in the face of trauma and perseverance in the face of seismic upheaval.
Tamara Toledo is a Chilean-born Toronto-based curator, scholar, writer, and artist. For over a decade, Toledo has curated numerous exhibitions offering spaces, platforms and opportunities to Latin American and diasporic artists.
Screening with Under The Full Moon | Lynn Dana Wilton | 2022 | Canada | 1 minute | silent
When anxiety affects g your ability to sleep it can be difficult to tell what is real and what is a dream. A short film animated with vine charcoal.
For accessibility Mis Dos Voces / My Two Voices and Under the Full Moon are also available online via Workman Arts & Cinesend from October 27th to November 6th, 2022
Keywords: Resilience | Immigration | Women’s Issues
Genre: Documentary (Feature) Animation (short)
#RWMFEST #MoreThanRebellion
Anda Zeng & Natalie Wee / 2022 / English / Canada / 15 minutes
A Voice Through The Melt, a multi-disciplinary piece incorporating spoken word and music, is a collaboration between musician Anda Zeng and writer Natalie Wee. In this performance piece spanning 11 to 12 minutes, the collaborating artists open new pathways for entering belonging, mental health, selfhood, and grief.
Individually, Anda’s cinematic songwriting allows for an embodied engagement with feeling, whereas Natalie’s written words create a cerebral experience guided by the reader’s input. In this crossover collaboration, Anda’s voice and harp create a sonic resonance with excerpts from Natalie’s new poetry collection, Beast at Every Threshold, performed in spoken word style. This creative call and response not only allows audiences to engage the work in a new way but also explores new interdisciplinary possibilities.
Natalie Wee (she/her) is a queer creator whose work explores themes of race, gender, queerness and nationhood. She is deeply informed by grassroots communities. She has written two poetry collections: Our Bodies & Other Fine Machines (San Press, 2021) and Beast At Every Threshold (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2022). Born in Singapore to Malaysian parents, Natalie is currently a settler in Tkaronto.
Learn more at natalieweewrites.com.
Anda Zeng (she/her) writes cinematic night songs for the daydreamer. Her years of creating impressionistic blends of harp, piano, dreamy vocals, and visceral lyrics culminated in the release of her debut EP, Night Dress, produced by Jonathan Wu. At once soothing and wounding, Night Dress lures listeners through the small hours into dawn, through the thicket of our illusory selves into our vulnerable human core. Anda is also a vocalist, harpist, and songwriter for the band Tiger Balme.
CREATIVE TEAM
Natalie Wee: Spoken Word Artist
Anda Zeng: Singer and Musician
Keywords: Anxiety | BIPOC experience | Community | Depression | Grief
#RWMFest #MoreThanRebellion
Image Design: Gabriella Okuda
Laura Piccinin / 2022 / English / Canada / 30 minutes
Asha and her best friend sit together in a tense familiarity and plan, in detail, the end of Asha’s life. She has suffered for decades, unable to be treated, despite truly valiant efforts to be well. Her best friend, conflicted between her belief in the right to die with dignity and her increasing desire to save a life, has become integral to carrying out the suicide plot. The Suicide Key infuses a sense of dark humour to comment on the absurdity of living with severe mental illness, and the complex and difficult decisions to be made surrounding life, death, and the pursuit of an acceptable happiness.
Laura Piccinin was born to tell stories. Whether as a dancer/aerialist with Tokyo Disney, a playwright and performer for the new Canadian musical Every Silver Lining or her solo shows LESBIHONEST and The Suicide Key, a teacher at the Toronto District School Board, or as a comédienne in Footloose with Just for Laughs, Laura’s unstoppable passion in life lies in telling people all sorts of eccentric stories — whether they want to hear them or not.
CREATIVE TEAM
Creator and Performer: Laura Piccinin
Dramaturg: Cass Van Wyck
CONTENT WARNINGS
Swearing / Mature language
Sexual Content
Suicide
Addiction
Subject matter: Medical assistance in dying (and the right to die with dignity).
Keywords: Alcoholism | Depression | LGBTQ2S+ | Trauma | Suicide
Talkback following performance.
#RWMFest #MoreThanRebellion
ALSO OF INTEREST
- Saturday October 29, 5 PM;
- Tuesday November 1, 7 PM;
- Thursday November 3, 7 PM
Flin Flon Cowboy Collective / 2022 / English / Canada / 60 minutes
The Flin Flon Cowboy is a new musical created and performed by Ken Harrower. This cabaret presentation centres around Ken’s life, his mysterious origins in Flin Flon, Manitoba, his experiences as a child with a disability in the Winnipeg foster care system, and his adventures in Toronto searching for connections in the gay community while creating a life as an artist. The story touches on issues of consent, sexuality, queerness, mental health, addiction, forgiving others and one’s self, and moving forward with accountability. Ken shares his experience with addiction and mental health with honesty, integrity and grit. He does not shy away from the dark and difficulties that come with being a gay disabled person navigating this world.
Ken Harrower is an award-winning film and theatre actor. His recent work includes Boys in Chairs (Summerworks – Winner of the John Kaplan Spotlight Award) and What Dream it Was (Dora nomination – Outstanding Ensemble 2017). He starred in the short film Hole (Canadian Screen Award 2015) and Luk’ Luk’i (TIFF 2017 – Winner of Best Canadian First Feature). Ken graduated from The Toronto Film School and has collaborated with ARTS4ALL and Jumblies Theatre as an actor and choir member. Ken identifies as a member of the disabled community and the LGBTQ community, advocating for equal rights and freedoms for those communities.
CREATIVE TEAM
Created and Performed by Ken Harrower
Written by Ken Harrower and Erin Brandenburg
Music by Ken Harrower and Johnny Spence
Narrated by Xavier Lopez * appears courtesy of CAEA
Directed by Erin Brandenburg
Musical Direction by Johnny Spence
Dramaturgy by Debbie Patterson
Lighting Design by Echo Zhou
Set/Costume Design by Michelle Tracey
Additional Set Design Elements by Sonja Rainey
Sound Design by Johnny Spence
Stage Management by Nazerah Carlisle
Video Design by Kejd Kuqo
CONTENT WARNINGS
Swearing / Mature language
Violence
Sexual Content
Suicide
Keywords: Addiction | Disability | Depression | LGBT2S+ | Suicide
There will be a talkback following each performance.
#RWMFest #MoreThanRebellion
Rozalind MacPhail / 2022 / English / Canada / 60 minutes
A special live music and cinema event featuring Newfoundland’s award-winning performer Rozalind MacPhail. DON’T LET ME FALL TOO FAR tells a timeless story of self-discovery experienced by a young woman navigating her way through a vulnerable period in her life.
MacPhail’s live music score features moody vocals, electrifying flute loops and driving electronics reminiscent of Pink Floyd, Mazzy Star and New Order.
Raven Blue’s film HOMELESS tells a timeless story of self-discovery experienced by a young woman navigating her way through a vulnerable period in her life. Haunting, lonely, dreamy and deeply honest. The film adapts the Indigenous tradition of the vision quest and explores themes of attachment, loss and longing. Filmed in Saint John, New Brunswick.
Newfoundland’s award-winning songwriter, looping flutologist and inspirational speaker explores new ways of combining image, inspiration and sound in audio-visual works that speak honestly of people, place and the human experience. A classically trained flutist, MacPhail layers moody vocals, electrifying flute loops, omnichord and driving electronics through her effects pedals and the digital audio workstation, Ableton Live. MacPhail has received multiple honours and awards, including an East Coast Music Award for Electronic Recording of the Year and MusicNL‘s Female Artist of the Year. She has recorded 12 albums, composed music for film and toured internationally over the last two decades.
CREATIVE TEAM
Live Performance by Rozalind MacPhail
Film by Raven Blue
CONTENT WARNINGS
Strobe Lights
Keywords: Anxiety | Depression | Family | Homelessness | Youth
#RWMFest #MoreThanRebellion
ALSO OF INTEREST
MALPENSANDO / 2022 / English / Canada / 120 minutes
These students impressed in their Level 1 Grad Show and are now back for more! Come and witness 6 weeks of hard work and dedication boiled down to one amazing comedy night! These students will speak from the heart and (hope to) make you laugh till you drop!
Originally from Costa Rica and Colombia, Stephan Dyer and Juan Cajiao are bilingual corporate leadership and communication trainers who also happen to be award-winning comedians and improv experts.
Leaving their executive positions in the banking world in 2017 to pursue their professional careers in stand up comedy, they have successfully founded MalPensando, a bilingual (English, Spanish) comedy and public speaking school.
CREATIVE TEAM
Juan Cajiao
Stephan Dyer
This program was made possible by the generous support of The Slaight Family Foundation in partnership with North York Arts.
CONTENT WARNINGS
Loud sounds
Swearing / Mature language
Sexual Content
Keywords: BIPOC Experience | Community | Depression | LGBTQ2S+ | Racism
#RWMFest #MoreThanRebellion
COMMUNITY PARTNER
AN IN-PERSON EXHIBITION
Kindness is not an act of weakness. It is an act that resists societal expectations of doing and saying nothing. This form of rebellion is evident in this year’s Rendezvous With Madness visual art exhibition whereby the six exhibiting artists address within their work personal experiences that challenge what mental health and wellness looks like. Action is apparent through frameworks of compassion, thought-provoking imagery and considerate storytelling.
IN THE EXHIBITION:
CHAINS & CROWNS
Stéphane Alexis
THE THINGS WE CARRY WITH US
Twinkle Banerjee
LOSING IT
Boozie
MULTITUDE OF FISH - ACENSION TALES
Jenny Chen
MY LEFT-HAND IS TALKING AND
MY RIGHT-HAND IS NURTURING
Jessica Field
CINNAMON
Wen Tong
This year, the exhibition in the Rendezvous With Madness Festival will be presented in-person throughout the festival from October 27 to November 6.
VENUE
Workman Arts Offsite Gallery, Artscape Youngplace, 180 Shaw Street, Unit 302, Toronto
GALLERY HOURS
October 27 to November 6, 12 – 6 PM
EXHIBITION OPENING & ARTISTS TALK
October 29, 1-4 PM, Talk at 2:30 PM
After the opening reception, engage with the artists of kind renderings as they delve into their work and practice.
TOURS
Please join us for a guided tour on Thursday, November 3 at 5 PM
ACCESSIBILITY
If in-person access is a barrier, please contact Raine Laurent-Eugene at raine_laurenteugene@workmanarts.com
Visit the Accessibility page for further festival information and wayfinding.
WORKMAN ARTS MEMBER ARTISTS JURY:
Sylvia Frey, Visual Artist, Toronto
Sylvia Frey is a Mad, Queer, BIPOC Visual Artist based in Toronto. Her artwork explores the intersection of Madness, Healing, and Art. She is an interdisciplinary artist, working in the mediums of painting, drawing, writing, and performance. Most currently, she has started to explore film and photography. Her artwork can be found in various private collections in North America and Europe.
Esmond Lee, Visual Artist, Researcher, and Architect, Toronto
Esmond Lee is an artist, researcher, and architect based in Scarborough. Lee explores long-term, intergenerational experiences of migration in peripheral spaces. He holds a Master of Architecture and is pursuing a Doctorate in Critical Human Geography. Lee draws from these seemingly diverging backgrounds to examine identity, belonging, and nuanced cultural and political borders in the built environment. Recent works include installations for Nuit Blanche Toronto, developed during his time as the Doris McCarthy Artist-in-Residence, and at Malvern Town Centre for CONTACT Photography Festival. Lee’s current projects include two photobooks: ‘Below the City’, recognized by the Burtynsky Grant, and one for Woodside Square Library as the TPL Artist-in-Residence.
Laura Shintani, Visual Artist, Toronto
Laura Shintani is a multimedia multidisciplinary artist who’s curiosity leans into learning, leadership and making friends with the interior monologue of the mind. Having a Japanese-Canadian ancestry, she directs themselves to create work that re-connects a disconnected past to the present. She lives with and embraces neurodiversity.
Her work has been shown at the Royal Ontario Museum, Campbell House Museum, Tangled Arts + Disability and Workman Arts. She helps to facilitate CAMH’s client “Art Cart” through Workman Arts and has received grants from and has been on juries for the Ontario Arts Council. Her most recent skill is trying her hand at taiko drumming!
ALSO OF INTEREST
In person screening — Sunday, November 6th at 5 PM
Camh Auditorium
1025 Queen Street West, Toronto
DO SAG | TWO DOGS | دو سگ | Amir Azizi | 2021 | Iran | 83 minutes | North American Premiere | Farsi with English subtitles
On Sunday, November 6th at Rendezvous With Madness enjoy an in-person screening of Do Sag | Two Dogs | دو سگ directed by Amir Azizi. Following the film join the Intercultural Iranian Canadian Resource Centre for a panel discussion about the film and the intersections of isolation, depression and human/animal relations. Translated between Farsi and English with ASL interpretation and captioning available.
Iman and Sajjad are two young men struggling with the kinds of problems typical for people in their 30s in Iran nowadays: unemployment, depression and a lack of self-confidence. Iman is translating Franz Kafka’s Investigations of a Dog into Farsi while working as a cab driver. His passengers are like the characters of Kafka’s story. Sajjad, Iman’s best friend, is inhibited by the way he looks and is trying to gather money for surgery. Both have dogs that look very similar to their owners. The dogs, while not always welcomed by their families, make the men feel less lonely living in traditional Iranian society.
PRE-FILM RECEPTION hosted by Intercultural Iranian Canadian Resource Centre.
To reserve your $20 tickets (includes food, art, socializing & film) please contact I2CRC at 416-388-9314 or info@i2crc.org
Keywords: Depression | Anxiety | Generational Trauma | Class Struggle
Genre: Fiction
#RWMFEST #MoreThanRebellion
در روز يكشنبه، ٦ ماه نوامبر، در فستيوال ملاقات با ديوانگي، به تماشاى حضوري فيلمِ “دو سگ” به كارگرداني امير عزیزی مى نشينيم.
پس از اكران فيلم، سازمان l²CRC از شما دعوت به نشستي با حضور پنلي از متخصصين مى نمايد، كه به بحث و گفتگو در مورد سناريوى فيلم و چند بُعدى بودن ارتباطات بين انزوا، افسردگى و رابطه بين انسان و حيوان مى پردازند.
اين بخش همزمان به فارسي، زیرنویس انگليسي و ASL ارائه مى شود.
چکیده ای از فیلم:
ايمان و سجاد دو مرد جوانند، كه با مشكلات رايج سى ساله هاى ايران امروز، نظيرِ بيكارى، افسردگى و عدم اعتماد به نفس دست بگريبانند.
ايمان مشغول ترجمه كتابى از فرانز كافكا بنام “تحقيقات در مورد يك سگ” به فارسي ميباشد. وي همزمان تاكسي هم ميراند. مسافران او شباهت به كاراكترهاى داستان در كتاب كافكا دارند.
سجاد دوست صميمى ايمان از ظاهر خود ناراضىي است و سعى در جمع آورى پول جهت جراحى دارد. هردو نفر صاحب سگهايى هستند كه بسيار شبيه صاحبانشان ميباشند. سگ ها كه معمولا مورد لطف خانواده اين دو مرد جوان قرار نميگيرند، مونسى براى كنار آمدن آنها با تنهايى در جامعه سنتى ايران هستند.
از علاقمندان دعوت ميكنيم در گردهمايى پيش از شروع فيلم كه توسط l²CRC تدارك ديده شده براي صرف تنقلات، شنيدن موسيقى، و گفت و شنود هنرى و اجتماعى حضور بهمرسانيد.
جهت تهيه بليط و يا دريافت اطلاعات بيشتر با تلفن 9314-388-416 لطفا تماس حاصل فرماييد.
كلمات كليدى: بحران نسلى، مشكلات طبقاتى، افسردگى، اضطراب
ژانرا: داستان خيالى
#RWMFEST #morethanrebellion
