KEYWORDS: Internet culture, houselessness, addiction, systemic racism

#skoden tells the story of Pernell Bad Arm, the Blackfoot man behind the infamous “Skoden” meme. What started out as a social media post to bond Indigenous people across Turtle Island over rez slang and relatable uncle material opened our eyes to something much more: a man whose life on the streets became a mockery to some and a figure of Indigenous empowerment to others but was most beloved by those who knew him personally. Damien Eagle Bear’s heartfelt and compassionate documentary humanizes the man behind the image, sharing stories from Pernell’s family and friends about his life and struggles, and serves as an anecdote to a bigger issue — the harsh reality of street life for many Indigenous people living in urban centres across so-called Canada.

WITH SHORT FILM ——— The Fourth World Problems Collective—— Kira Doxator | 2024 | Canada | Fiction | 7 minutes | English

On a cold Toronto night, a tight-knit collective of friends embark on an unusual mission—tapping maple trees in their neighborhood. A simple act becomes a reflection on belonging and tradition.

Kira Doxtator is an Anishinaabe, Oneida, and Dakota filmmaker exploring Indigiqueer identities, land relationships, and Indigenous futurisms through impactful storytelling and industry advocacy.

GENRE: Documentary (feature)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
KEYWORDS: Addiction, Recovery, Music, Documentary

Opening Performance: Contemporary Dance | We Lost You A Long Time Ago | Nicole Decsey Dance Projects | 2023 | 25 minutes

GENRE: Documentary (feature)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
KEYWORDS: Homelessness, Addiction, Graffiti, Punk

Hanna Finn’s talent and charisma were undeniable from an early age. By the time she reached preschool, her creativity and sharp sense of humour were on full display. Now a young adult known as Psykos, she exists on the fringes, describing her life as one in a “parallel society.”  Ribe’s documentary Ink, Blood and Socks chronicles Psykos’ struggles with addiction and her journey toward recovery. Keywords:  Homelessness, Addiction, Graffiti, Punk

WITH SHORT FILM ——— Off Suit —— Lou Estores & Brian Demoskoff | 2018 | Canada | Documentary | 3 minutes | English | Directors in attendance

GENRE: Experimental Documentary (feature)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
KEYWORDS: Schizophrenia, Housing, Experimental Documentary

Pushing at the limits of non-fiction cinema, A Man Imagined is a bracingly intimate and hallucinatory portrait of a man with schizophrenia surviving amidst urban detritus and decay. Made in close collaboration with 67-year-old Lloyd, this immersive documentary fable follows the jagged path of a decades-long street survivor, across harsh winters and blistering summers, as he sells discarded items to motorists, sleeps in junkyards and lapses into near-psychedelic reveries.

When Lloyd reveals a startling detail from his past, the filmmakers try to help him piece together a story that spills out in fragments—a jigsaw puzzle of painful childhood abstraction that seems to hold an unspeakable mystery at its core.

With its subjective, lyrical camerawork and expressionistic sound design, the latest feature from directors Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky finds poetic power and transcendence in the harrowed mind of its protagonist, delivering a poignant meditation on life at the margins.

WITH SHORT FILM ——-Uncle Bardo —— Luke Mistrucci | 2024 | Canada | Documentary | 14 minutes | English

GENRE: Documentary (feature)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
KEYWORDS: Postpartum depression, Women’s issues, Stress, Family

Unemployment, poverty, disease and domestic violence are commonplace in the township of Alexandra in Johannesburg. For young mothers, who often have to raise their children alone, they barely have time for themselves and their babies. A group of women from the Ububele Home Visiting program are working to transform the neighborhood by improving the mental well-being of mothers and their babies.

WITH SHORT FILM ——— Beyond Recall —— Ajay Kumar | 2024 | Canada | Fiction | 11 minutes | English | Director in attendance

GENRE: Documentary (feature)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
KEYWORDS: Indigenous documentary, Family, Trauma, Addiction

A National Film Board of Canada Production

Dr. Jules Arita Koostachin’s deeply personal documentary WaaPaKe (Tomorrow) asks the difficult question: “Who are we without our pain?”

For generations, the suffering of residential school Survivors has radiated outward, impacting Indigenous families and communities. Children, parents and grandparents have contended with the unspoken trauma, manifested in the lingering effects of colonialism: addiction, emotional abuse and broken relationships.

In her efforts to help the children of Survivors, including herself and her family, Koostachin makes the difficult decision to step in front of the camera and participate in the circle of truth. She is joined in this courageous act of solidarity by members of her immediate family, as well as an array of voices from Indigenous communities across Turtle Island. Moving beyond burying intergenerational trauma, WaaPaKe (Tomorrow) is an invitation to unravel the tangled threads of silence and unite in collective freedom and power.

Film still from 3 Seconds In 6 Seconds Out by Christopher Beaulieu.

The short film program ‘I don’t need to ask you to love me because I love myself’’ explores many different modes of filmmaking as a means to express emotions related to how we not only exist but thrive in a world filled with challenges, contradictions and conundrums. Featuring artists: Jamila Balde, Christopher Beaulieu, Jeyolyn Christie, Jet Coughlan, Brian Demoskoff, Gabe Gonçalves, Helen Posno, Zan Redcrow, Emily Schooley, Ardene Shapiro, Andrea Thompson and TK Workman.

Followed by Spoken Word & Open Mic | 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM

FEATURED FILMS

GENRE: Documentary (feature)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
KEYWORDS: Family, Suicide, Trauma, Youth

Update from Workman Arts regarding October 10 World Mental Health Day

GENRE: Documentary (feature)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON

Purportedly the first documentary feature film made in Gaza, Gaza Ghetto: Portrait of a Palestinian Family highlights the historical precedents of war, dispossession and military control that influence a family’s daily life in the Jabalia refugee camp. Intimate scenes – a child is born, a grandmother dies – are inter-cut with visits to the architects of the Israeli military occupation. 

Gaza Ghetto follows the El-Adel family: Itidhal and Mustafa and their many children, including Ra’ida Abdullah, Samar, Shuroug, Riham and Ayed. We see the family’s humdrum daily routines: waking up grumpy, getting dressed for school, brushing their hair, and attending morning prayer at the UNRWA Jabalia Girls’ Preparatory School. The film provides historical context through archival footage from 1948 when the original Israeli invasion of Palestine displaced some 150,000 people, and 1967, when the Six-Day War resulted in the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank and the displacement of a further 300,000 people. We see scenes of the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, where Mustafa works as a healthcare provider alongside an inadequate international response—the United Nations and Quaker volunteers distributing meager rations—and the grueling daily grind endured by the working-age men and women of the camp, who leave the camp before dawn each day and spend several hours commuting to Tel Aviv or Jaffa to then spend hours, and sometimes entire fruitless days, soliciting jobs in an informal day-labor market.

Discussion to follow with mental health / health care workers/supporters on the theme of workplace mental health to connect to the 2024 World Mental Health Day theme. Participants include Mohamed Abdelhack, Sarah Abusarar, Rayan Anton and Dr. Yipeng Ge.

Mohamed Abdelhack is a Postdoctoral Fellow at CAMH studying neural dynamics of psychiatric disorders using machine learning. He is also the founder of Arabs in Neuroscience, a grassroots organization that aims to improve education in Arab countries and create a network for Arabic-speaking neuroscientists. He is a recipient of Canada Brain Starts Award and The Neuro – Irv & Helga Cooper Foundation Open Science Prize. He originates from Alexandria, Egypt and has international experience working in Japan, the United States, and South Africa.

Rayan Anton MSW, RSW is a Palestinian Social Worker and Psychotherapist. He is a first-generation immigrant from occupied Palestine, and moved here at a young age with his family in hopes of finding a life free of danger and oppression. He works largely with the Arab community and also the 2SLGBTQ community here in Toronto. He is the co-founder of Meem Toronto – a social group for queer and trans people from the Arabic-speaking region.

Dr. Yipeng Ge is a primary care physician and public health practitioner based on the traditional, unceded and unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg. In his clinical practice, he works in family medicine practice and refugee health at a community health centre. He has worked on and studied the structural and colonial determinants of health in both the settler colonial contexts of so-called Canada and occupied Palestine. Having witnessed the atrocities in Gaza firsthand as a humanitarian medical volunteer, Dr. Ge leverages his direct experiences to raise awareness and educate the Canadian public about global injustices.