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.