GENRE: Experimental Fiction (feature)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
KEYWORDS: Rehabilitation, Addiction, Recovery, Hybrid film

Bionico (Manuel Raposo) and his closest pal Calvita (El Napo) live their lives on the wild side, driven by their insatiable desire to get high, no matter the cost. Early on in the film, Bionico decides to turn his life around. He’s a romantic at heart, and he wants to clean up his act before the love of his life La Flaca (Ana Minier) completes rehab. To begin this new phase of life, he must find a job, buy an engagement ring, and find a nicer place to live. But making life-changing plans is easier said than done, as Bionico struggles to detox while facing an endless parade of temptations.

WITH SHORT FILM ——— CHRYSTALLID —— Esteban Powell | 2023 | Canada, Mexico | Experimental documentary | 7 minutes | Spanish with English subtitles

GENRE: Fiction (feature)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
KEYWORDS: Alzheimer’s, Aging, Caregiving, Family

Aziz, an 80-year-old matriarch lives with progressive dementia and requires constant caregiving by her children. Anoush, her youngest son, who is about to get married, loves and takes care of his mother more than his siblings. Aziz lost her husband years ago and is suddenly professing her love to someone while her family engages in a search for this mysterious man. They eventually discover Aziz is in love with her younger son.

GENRE: Short films
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
Featuring artists: Cai Bell-Jerome, Noor Gatih, Hanna Gulzar, Mio Muyoboke, Katrina Rodriguez, Kurtis Watson, Sydney Waters

For the eighth consecutive year, If You Ask Me (IYAM) has supported emerging filmmakers with lived mental health and/or addiction experiences to create new short films. This year’s program features shorts by filmmakers from across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). These new films were developed from July – September 2024 under the guidance of Robin Riad, along with IYAM alumnus Esteban Powell serving as mentor. Equipment rentals and facilities were generously provided by our community sponsor and partner, LIFT. 

GENRE: Documentary + Fiction (shorts)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON

Join us for a program of short films from recent editions of the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival (SMHAF). Stick around afterward for discussions with staff from the festival who will talk about the films and share how the SMHAF is organized.  This year’s Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival takes place across Scotland from 10 – 27 October 2024, exploring the theme of ‘In/Visible’. You can learn more at www.mhfestival.com.

GENRE: Fiction (feature)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
KEYWORDS: Poverty, Housing, Intergenerational Trauma, Family, Fiction

Writer-director Pedro Freire’s feature debut Malu offers a raw and emotional exploration of motherhood and the circumstances perpetuating transgenerational trauma. Amid the many sequences of emotional chaos, Malu emerges as a touching story about healing, forgiveness, and learning to see the people we love for who they truly are rather than who we expect them to be.

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,  Jeolyn Christi, 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

GENRE: Fiction (feature)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
KEYWORDS: 2SLGBTQIA+ issues, Coming out, Trauma

In the winter of 1970, a small-town plumber from rural New Brunswick must drive his beat-up work truck 1000 miles to Toronto to get his estranged, gay brother out of jail after being arrested for having sex in a public park. The two men are then forced to drive back home together at the behest of their hard-nosed mother before they kill each other. Inspired by a true story.

GENRE: FICTION (FEATURE)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
KEYWORDS: FAMILY | YOUTH | MUTISM

درناز حاجیها | ایران | درام | ۲۰۲۲ | ۷۸ دقیقه | فارسی با زیرنویس انگلیسی | اولین نمایش تورنتو

(ژانر: داستانی (بلند

نوع رویداد: فیلم، حضوری

کلید واژه: خانواده، جوانان، نا گویایی/اللی

“A transfixing and brooding, unafraid film where there are no winners. But there are truths to be had.”–Robert Daniels

Ilya is a normal, healthy four-and-a-half year-old boy. He goes to daycare and enjoys playing. He comes from a stable background with loving parents. But for reasons known only to himself, he has stopped talking. Contrary to what you might expect, Dornaz Hajiha’s superbly-acted film zeroes in on the boy’s parents, Haleh and Amir (Sepidar Tari and Shahdiyar Shakiba). In the first scene, a psychologist probes their relationship and recommends that they reverse roles, that is, Amir should take over responsibility for getting Ilya dressed, feeding him, and the thousand other little things that his wife routinely does for their son. He grudgingly agrees. But it’s Haleh who really struggles with the new arrangement. She feels helpless and redundant. And Ilya still isn’t talking.

In her spare, empathetic first feature film, Hajiha establishes authenticity; it’s almost as if we are watching an observational documentary. As the distressed parents consult one specialist after another, all to no avail, their own mental health suffers and the marriage cracks apart, leading to a devastating climax. 

– The Cinematheque (Vancouver)

فیلمی متحول کننده و غم انگیز که در آن هیچ کس پیروز نیست، فقط حقایقی هستند که آشکار می شوند’

رابرت دنیلز

ایلیا پسری چهار و نیم ساله است. عادی و سالم. او به مهد کودک می رود و از بازی کردن لذت می برد.از خانواده ای حامی و

والدینی مهربان برخوردار است. اما به دالیلی که فقط خودش میداند، دیگر حرف نمیزند. بر خالف آنچه انتظار می رود، درناز حاجیها در فیلم خود به والدین ایلیا می پردازد، هاله و امیر ) با بازیگری درخشان سپیدار طاری و شهدیار شکیبا(. در اولین صحنه فیلم، روانشناسی رابطه ی آنها را زیر سوال می برد و به آنها توصیه می کند که نقش خود را با یکدیگر عوض کنند. یعنی امیر مسئولیت پوشاندن لباس ایلیا، غذا دادن به او و هزار یک مسئولیت دیگری را که همسرش به طور معمول برای پسرشان انجام می دهد را به عهده بگیرد. او با اکراه موافقت می کند. اما این هاله است که با وضعیت جدید دست و پنجه نرم می کند. او احساس درماندگی و بیهودگی می کند و ایلیا کماکان صحبت نمی کند.

.درناز حاجیها در اولین فیلم بلند خود، با دقت، حساسیت و همدلی دنیایی را خلق می کند که همانند فیلم های مستند مشاهده گر است

 والدین  مضطرب در پی پاسخ به مشکل فرزندشان بی نتیجه به متخصصین متعدد مراجعه می‌کنند و در نهایت  سلامت روان و ازدواجشان با نابسامانی و مصیبت روبرو می‌شود.

FEATURED PANELISTS

MI VACÍO Y YO | MY EMPTINESS AND I | Adrián Silvestre | 2022 | Spain | 98 minutes | Toronto Premiere | French and Spanish with English Subtitles

Rendezvous With Madness is pleased to present the fabulous fiction film Mi Vacío Y Yo / My Emptiness And I directed by  Adrián Silvestre available for streaming across Canada from October 27th to November 6th. With the film, there is a prerecorded talk about the film with the d moderated by Anna Daliza to enjoy.

“Raphi, young and naive, enjoys writing love poems and dreams about falling in love. She leaves her native France and moves to Barcelona, where she works in a call centre. She struggles with maintaining relationships with boys and what it means to be diagnosed with gender dysphoria.  As a trans woman, Raphi feels the pressure to define and defend herself to anyone who asks but also deals with the social pressures to move forward with irreversible reassignment surgery. Even among her trans support group, Raphi receives mixed messages about needing to love herself exactly as she is … or instead, change her body in order for someone to love her in return. The brutal dating scene is no help as she’s matched with men who see her as more of a sexual novelty than a human being searching for love and connection. Wading through serious doubts and an array of intimate encounters of varying pleasure, Raphi must learn to trust herself and her newfound opportunity of the arts as a means of healing and empowerment. Raw, honest, and thought-provoking, Mi vacío y yo is an intensely intimate journey of self-discovery and acceptance.” —Cleveland International Film Festival

Anna Daliza is an emerging writer, artist and educator, was born in Southwestern Ontario to an Anglo-Canadian father and a Lebanese immigrant mother. She describes her cultural upbringing as a marriage between oil and water. 

Screening with 

The Spiral | María Silvia Esteve | 2022 | Argentina | Spanish with English subtitles 

The Spiral is a dive into a lonely ride, an hypnotic escalation towards childhood, family, and the loneliness of “home”.

Keywords: Dating | Gender Dysphoria | Family | Anxiety | Youth
Genre: Fiction (Feature) Fiction (Short)
#RWMFEST #MoreThanRebellion

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.

Info@i2crc.org

كلمات كليدى: بحران نسلى، مشكلات طبقاتى، افسردگى، اضطراب

ژانرا:  داستان خيالى

#RWMFEST  #morethanrebellion