முதல்முறையாக படம் இயக்கி உள்ள அருன் கார்த்திக் திலிப் குமாரின் கதை ஒன்றினை மூலமாக கொண்டு உணர்வுபூர்வமான படம் எடுத்துள்ளார். தமிழகத்திலுள்ள கோயம்புத்தூரில் வாழும் நாசிர் என்னும் இஸ்லாத்தை பேணும் குடும்பஸ்த்தரின் கதைதான் இந்த படம். கோவை மாவட்டத்தில் பரவி வரும் இந்து மத அடிப்படை வாதத்தின் கோர குரல் ஒளிபெருக்கிகளில் தொடர்ந்து ஒளிக்கின்றன. நாசிர் வேலை செய்யும் துணிக்கடையின் முதலாளி முஸ்லீம்களின் மேல் கொண்ட வெறுப்பினை தொடர்ந்து வேளிப்படுத்துகிறார். கடைக்கு வரும் வாடிக்கையாளர்கள் நாசிரை துச்சமாய் எண்ணி மதிப்பின்றி நடத்துகின்றனர். இதில் நாசிருக்கு வீட்டு கவலைகள் எழும்பி அவர் அபு தாபி சென்று உழைத்துச் சம்பாதிப்பதை பற்றி யோசிக்கிறார். நகரத்தின் பரபரப்பினூடே அமைதியான சாதாரனமான நாசிரின் தின்சரி யதார்த்தங்ககளை இயக்குனர் கார்த்திக் உயிரோட்டத்துடன் நம்முன் கொண்டு வருகிறார். அதே சமயம் நாசிரை சுற்றி புறளும் செய்திகளும் ஆங்காங்கே நடக்கும் உரையாடல்கள் இவ்யதார்த்ததின் ஓரங்களில் பதுங்கியிருக்கும் வன்முறையை நினைவுபடுத்துகிறது.

This gentle portrait from sophomore feature filmmaker Arun Karthick is based on a short story by Dilip Kumar. It follows Nasir, a Muslim family man in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, where Hindu nationalism has taken on more dangerous forms in recent years.  Propaganda constantly booms from loudspeakers everywhere in public spaces. The owner at the textile store where he works makes little effort to hide his contempt for Muslims while customers treat Nasir as a doormat. In the meantime, Nasir starts worrying about his wife and wonders whether he would be better off as a migrant labourer in Abu Dhabi. With equanimous, stunning images of everyday life, Director Karthick brings us fully into Nasir’s prosaic world  Still, off-screen news reports and casual conversations remind us of the violence that hangs in the peripheries.

TAMIL WORLD INITIATIVE

Panelists for this film, in conversation with Director Arun Karthick, will address issues of art-making during the context of Right wing Hindu fundamentalism, Islamophobia and casteism in the Tamil speaking world. Panel in Tamil and English with translation.

நாசிர், கலந்துரையாடலில் சேருங்கள்
கருத்து முன்வைக்கும் நபர்கள் இயக்குனர் அருன் கார்த்திகுடன் கலந்துரையாடுவர். இதில், இந்து மதவாதம், சாதி வெரி, இஸ்லாத்தை வெறுத்தல் அகிய உண்மைகள் நம்மை சூழ்ந்துள்ள இக்காலத்தில், தமிழ்ச் சூழளில் கலை உருவாக்கம் பற்றி பேசுவர். கலந்துரையாடல் தமிழ் ஆங்கிலம் இரண்டிலும் மொழிபேயர்ப்புடன் நடைபேரும்.    

Set in the stunning landscape of the Lesotho mountains, this unique film follows the story of an 80-year-old widow, Mantoa. Mantoa eagerly awaits her son’s return from work in the mines; instead, she learns of his death. Her immense grief is framed within the Provincial decree to relocate her village in order for development of a dam and reservoir, threatening to flood and erase everything that she holds dear. Mantoa takes up a spiritual mantle and fights for the land, community and her desire to bury her child on the land they were raised on. A colourful, heartfelt and personal story full of the strength, history and the power of this lone matriarch in the face of great change. Taking her last stand, Mantoa asserts her way of life, where the living and the dead stand together to bear witness to the changing landscape, making us question the price of progress.

Veins of the World is a wondrous coming of age tale that describes living in harmony with nature and the financial instabilities of maintaining the traditions of nomadic people. Amra is 11 years old — and suffers from an eye condition that will blind him in the near future. Growing up in the Mongolian steppe (itself a co-star of this gorgeous landscape film), Amra’s father Erdene is the local leader opposing global companies’ mining and gold extraction. Without intervention, his father’s workshop will soon close, yet despite these challenges Amra still dreams of someday singing on television in Mongolia’s Got Talent. However, the fight against resource exploitation in an unstable environment quickly challenges the young boy’s electric talents. Director Byambasuren Davaa’s (The Story of the Weeping Camel) first fiction feature premiered at the Berlin Film Festival then screened at the Marché du Film Online in Cannes and is a captivating story about family and community challenging the constant march of capitalism and environmental exploitation.

Screening with 

Blues Side on the Blue Sky
Rachmat Hidayat Mustamin | 2018 | Indonesia | Indonesian with English subtitles | 15 minutes

In a manifestation of visual poetry, Blues Side on The Blue Sky tells the story of a mother who tries to save her daughter.

Join us for a virtual panel with Leah Gardner from JCAP, Jamie Kneen from Mining Watch Canada and Rachel Small from Mining Injustice Solidarity Network.

Desana Justino lives in Manaus, a port city in the Amazon rainforest, having left behind his home in the wilderness many years ago. As an Indigenous man, he tries to navigate between the disappearing natural landscape and his own life. His daughter has to decide if she will pursue medical school in Brazil and the potential separation weighs heavy in the air as she worries about her father’s health. Working as a security guard to support his family as seemingly supernatural forces manifest, Da-Rin’s camera intimately captures a man still intensely connected to the land. Justino is a quiet man caught between the old ways of his people and the industrialized ways quickly taking over; juxtaposing images of confining industrial cityscapes over the simple and quiet way of life more in tune with nature. A languid, hypnotic story that both makes his yearning for a simpler and sturdier time palatable and makes us question our place in it.

Following the screening of The Fever, join us for a virtual Q&A with Brazilian filmmaker, visual artist and former documentarian Maya Da-Rin to discuss the making of her first fiction feature, her country’s “post-apocalyptic state” and the catastrophic impact of Bolsonaro’s brutal regime on Brazil’s Indigenous communities. Moderated by Jaene F. Castrillon, a multi-disciplinary artist, filmmaker and Rendezvous with Madness programmer.

This delicate and quiet film, part family drama part homage to older Iranian artists, comes from veteran director Bahman Farmanara. Taher Mohebi, a well-known writer, breaks down after witnessing a violent murder and spends three years in a mental institution. After his release Taher is told that things are just as they were before, but his relentless hallucinations make him want to return to the institution. This film is dedicated to Abbas Kiarostami and affectionately displays the late master’s understanding of complex human relationships.

Mental Health and Film in Iranian Canadian Communities

For over a decade, the Intercultural Iranian Canadian Resource Centre (I2CRC) and Rendezvous with Madness have collaborated to present Iranian films that explore mental health and addiction issues as well as host post-show discussions and beautiful pre-show receptions. This year is no exception as we close the festival with Iranian food, conversation, and of course, films!

Retrospect is a chaotic puzzle of an unreliable narrator’s memories, anarchic bursts of punk music, sporadic and shredded timeline. And yet, in the heart of the story are Mette and her so-called ‘perfect’ nuclear family. Mette (Circé Lethem) is a domestic violence support worker, and the film starts with her intervening in a violent and abusive altercation involving a strange young couple on vacation.  It then jumps to a family dinner where Mette confronts her husband, who clearly doesn’t equate the importance of her career to his. After this uncomfortable scene, back to the future and Mette in the hospital following a catastrophic accident. She’s now in a wheelchair and has no recollection of preceding events. Gradually, Mette starts remembering how she invited Lee (Lien Wildemeersch), a client, to escape an abusive partner by moving in. The arrangement soon explodes, Mette’s flashbacks offering only vague clues to the calamity. But who is really to blame for Mette’s downfall?

Group therapy sessions. Community meals. Heartfelt conversations. This life is foreign to Margot (Julie Moulier), a thirty something woman from a wealthy French family. Margot lives with addiction and she’s just enrolled in a rehab facility in a remote French countryside. It’s quaint and dreamlike in the country which is the complete opposite of Margot’s fevered mental state. Her repressed feelings make Margot reluctant to open up to strangers. She doesn’t believe in the community approach to recovery. What might happen if she actually let go of her fears and allowed others in?  Margot’s character offers audiences an intimate examination of the deep-rooted psychological causes of addiction. Our Wonderful Lives gives us a nuanced and refreshing look into community based recovery and the significance of something as simple as friendship.

(En Français)

GENRE: FICTION

SUJET: TOXICOMANIE, COMMUNAUTÉ, AMITIÉ, THÉRAPIE DE GROUPE, RÉADAPTATION

TYPE: FILM

Séances de thérapie de groupe. Repas communautaires. Conversations sincères. Cette vie est étrangère à Margot (Julie Moulier), une femme d’une trentaine d’années issue d’une famille bourgeoise française. Margot est toxicomane et elle vient de s’inscrire dans un centre de réadaptation situé dans une campagne française isolée. La vie y est douce et onirique, tout à l’inverse de la fièvre mentale de Margot. Ses sentiments refoulés empêchent Margot de s’ouvrir aux autres patients. Elle ne croit pas à la réadaptation à base communautaire. Que pourrait-il arriver si elle abandonnait ses peurs et s’ouvrait à autrui? Le personnage de Margot offre au public un examen intime des causes psychologiques profondes de la dépendance. Nos Vies formidables nous donne un regard nuancé et rafraîchissant sur la réadaptation à base communautaire et la signification de quelque chose d’aussi simple que l’amitié.