A program of recent short films presented at Toronto’s Rendezvous With Madness Festival, connecting personal stories and deep sentiments through magical flickering frames and dancing pixels. Emotions in Motion is an attempt to create a space for emotional filmmaking and an experiment in centering cathartic approaches to storytelling.

Sitting in the dark is a communal invitation to connect our relationship to grief, loss and wellness with these five creators’ unique expressions of grief, of struggles and of survival. Bring your heart and mind to this program that aims to anchor us for an hour-long voyage of emotion-full cinematic splendors. 

TRT 62 minutes

XO Rad Magical is a personal lyrical poem about the daily struggle of living with schizophrenia. This psychedelic and hypnotic animated film shows that there is beauty in the brains of those who are at war with themselves. Provided courtesy National Film Board of Canada / Office national du film du Canada.

In this short documentary, filmmaker Chadi Bennani accompanies his mother, Dominique, as she sets out to empty Nicole’s apartment, her mother who passed away two years prior. Through their discoveries, Dominique and Chadi share their memories of Nicole, as well as apprehensions of a future without her. Provided courtesy Les Films du 3 Mars.

An intimate portrait grappling with love and loss that takes us on an essayistic journey of mourning, paying homage to the dearly departed.  “A Season of Goodbyes, I wrote beneath a photograph I had taken of dry sunflowers strewn on my kitchen counter; their petals like hair flaying, their seeds like tears scattered; the windswept hair of four adolescent sisters, their tears frozen in time, as the last image of their father fades as the distance from the town they can no longer call a home widens. Beneath that photograph, A Season of Goodbyes, I wrote.”- P.N.-H. Provided courtesy the artist.

Joe Buffalo is a Cree skateboarding legend. He’s also a survivor of Canada’s notorious  genocidal residential school system. Following a traumatic childhood and decades of addiction, Joe must face his inner demons to realize his dreams. Provided courtesy the artist.

TJ Cuthand and his mother Ruth Cuthand have a candid conversation about TJ’s last hospitalization for Bipolar Disorder in 2007. While TJ only knew his manic episode from the inside, Ruth had to deal with caregiving decisions and trying to find help. While they reminisce, they also have to reckon with the feelings of animosity that arose between them during these challenging events. Provided courtesy Vtape Distribution