KEYWORDS: Trauma, Family, Loss, Grief, Gender

Rana is a middle-aged woman holding a high-ranking position at a major bank. Her husband left her when she was pregnant with their daughter. Since that time, she has been raising Hoda alone and her daughter means the world to her. Hoda’s birthday is approaching fast, and she would like to celebrate it at an amusement park; overprotective Rana is not so pleased, but finally agrees. An accident at the amusement park ends fatally for Hoda, and Rana’s life is turned upside down. As if the pain and tragedy of losing her only daughter was not enough, Rana must also face the absurdity of the laws and traditions in her country.

فیلم: دیاپازون

کلمات کلیدی: تروما، خانواده، فقدان، سوگ، جنسیت

رعنا زنی میانسال است که در یک بانک بزرگ، مقام بالایی دارد. شوهرش او را زمانی که دخترشان را باردار بود، ترک کرد. از آن زمان، او هدی را به تنهایی بزرگ کرده و دخترش برایش به معنای تمام دنیاست. تولد هدی به سرعت نزدیک میشود و او دوست دارد آن را در یک شهربازی جشن بگیرد. رعنای بیش از حد محتاط، چندان راضی نیست، اما سرانجام موافقت میکند. حادثهای در شهربازی برای هدی به مرگ ختم میشود و زندگی رعنا زیر و رو میشود. گویی درد و تراژدی از دست دادن تنها دخترش کافی نبوده است، رعنا باید با پوچی قوانین و سنتهای کشورش نیز روبرو شود.

KEYWORDS: Schizophrenia, family, childhood

Five children struggle to maintain any sense of normalcy after their mother, Judith (Micaela Gramajo), disappears one summer night. Their father, Emiliano (Bernardo Gamboa), goes off in pursuit of his missing wife, leaving the siblings with their grandmother, Romana (Carmen Ramos). It’s soon clear that Romana’s mental health challenges leave her in no condition to care for five rambunctious kids. It falls on the elder siblings Victor (Donovan Said) and Vanessa (Laura Uribe Rojas) to step up and keep the family together, even as they struggle to make sense of their current situation. Making matters worse, Romana’s foreboding ramblings intensify the children’s anxieties, suggesting the presence of an evil force in their midst.

Director Ernesto Martínez Bucio’s The Devil Smokes (and Saves the Burnt Matches in the Same Box) offers an emotionally gripping and thematically rich experience elevated by evocative cinematography and extraordinary performances from its young cast. Bucio plays stingy with certain plot details, and infuses events with spectral undertones, cultivating a cryptic and haunting atmosphere that lingers long after the credits roll.

WITH SHORT FILM ——— Semillas (Seeds)—— Esteban Powell, Francisca Rojas, Ruben Dario Chavez-Munoz | 2024 | Canada | Documentary | 11 minutes | English, Spanish

When uprooted plants may face ‘transplant shock’ where they are unable to root themselves into a new environment. Similarly, the migrant narrative is steeped by difficulty adapting to a new land. Often overlooked from this narrative is the “1.5” generation – people uprooted in their formative years who have assimilated into their new environment and maintained vigorous roots with the ‘homeland,’

Semillas is a dual-screen documentary portrait of three “1.5” generation Latine individuals (Veronica, Francisca and Josue). Through their voices, likenesses, memories, and interlaced experiences Semillas explores their stages of transplantation: ‘uprooting,’ ‘transplant shock’ and ‘seed dispersal.’ Interrogating how the ‘soil’ of home permeates one’s evolving sense of home and Latine identity.

KEYWORDS: Trauma, family, PTSD

This brand-new feature, directed by Tanushree Das and Saumyananda Sahi, delves into the ramifications of one family’s intense experience with mental health.

It follows Maya, a multitasking mother who lives in Kolkata with her husband, Sundar, and their teenage son, Debu. She juggles three jobs as the family’s primary breadwinner, while also dealing with ostracization and neighbourhood rumours about Sundar, an unemployed ex-soldier suffering from PTSD. Debu is often left as his father’s primary caregiver, and the young man valiantly copes with feelings of affection and embarrassment in the face of his father’s daily struggles. After her husband disappears, Maya must fight to hold her family together in the face of an unexpected murder investigation and an unknown and very uncertain future.

With highly engaging lead performances and a fresh perspective on both trauma and caregiving, Shadowbox is a poignant yet tense film that exposes prejudice and peels back the layers of obligation, love, and the complexities of relationships. 

WITH SHORT FILM ——— Adieu Ugarit —— Samy Benammar | 2025 | Quebec/Canada | Documentary  | 15 minutes

“In 2012, Mohamed had seen his best friend shot dead by an armed militia on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria; the blood spilled in the lake contaminated his memory. Ten years on, the reflections on the Laurentian waters revive Mohamed’s trauma. I ask him if he’d like to dredge up the memories, repair the pain by retreating for a few days to the most distressing calm he can find. He talks about death, immigration and anger. We wonder how and why we should recount this story.” – Samy Benammar

KEYWORDS: Activism, Family, Trauma, Youth, Feminism

Writing Hawa is the story of three generations of Hazara women from the same family in Afghanistan. With unique access, director Najiba Noori films her mother Hawa and her niece Zahra in their aspirations to emancipate themselves from patriarchal traditions. Forty years after her arranged marriage as a child, Hawa finally begins an independent life and begins studies to become literate. But with the return of the Taliban to power, her dreams, along with those of her daughter and granddaughter, are shattered as they face new daunting struggles

WITH SHORT FILM ——— Hatch—— Panta Mosleh, Alireza Kazemipour | 2024 | Canada | Fiction | 10 minutes

Naaji, An Afghan refugee boy hides with his mother inside a moving water tanker trying to cross the border to safety. Losing his mother in the process, Naaji forever tries to find a way to relive his last memory of her.

Please join us at our first Rendezvous spoken word and open mic event as part of our Shine ; Together year!

We are excited to feature esteemed writers Ghadeer Elghafri and Kelly Rose Pflug-Back – see their biography and contact details below! The event will also feature open mic from Workman Arts writers each sharing 5 minutes of writing with our audience – sign up for the open mic begins at 1:30 PM and continues until the 12 slots are filled. Tickets are available at the door or in advance – pay what you can and no one turned away!

This event follows the Workman Arts short film program. 

Any questions please contact info@workmanarts.com.

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, 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.

WITH SHORT FILM ——— Mechanism ——  Eva Grant | Canada | Experimental | 2023 | 5 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