To celebrate the Canadian premiere of the German film BLUE SKY WHITE CLOUDS at Rendezvous With Madness, join us for an insightful talk about filmmaking featuring accomplished director Astrid Menzel.

The film BLUE SKY WHITE CLOUDS is streaming across Canada from November 6 – 12. You do not have to watch the film before attending the seminar but it is encouraged. The film page is found here Tickets to watch the film online are purchased through a donation of $0 -20. 

SEMINAR – Behind the Scenes Insights on Directing the Award-Winning Documentary BLUE SKY WHITE CLOUDS

Filmmaker Astrid Menzel explores the process of directing a feature film, dissecting her latest documentary BLUE SKY WHITE CLOUDS. Participants of this seminar will walk away with a deeper understanding of various aspects of film direction, production and techniques as well as uncover personal insights about the highs and lows of the process, including:

Topics Covered

• Different aspects and challenges of filming one’s own family.
• How to turn subjective thoughts and struggles into a dramaturgical outline of an intensive and personal documentary.
• The mix of materials and techniques used during the editing of the film.
• Open Q&A

GENRE: DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE), DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
KEYWORDS: NEURODIVERGENCY | SIGN LANGUAGE | FAMILY

Janet Sharrock and Buddha Barnes are in dire need of a holiday, but the universe has other plans. Together, along with the couple’s five adult children, they form a blended, neurodiverse family. Their exhausted and cash-strapped family must routinely navigate financial hardships in addition to the challenges that neurodivergent individuals face day-to-day. Their modest lives aren’t society’s ideal, but they never stop fighting to make it work.

Because We Have Each Other tells a tender tale about seven people overcoming adversity by putting their unwavering love and support for one another above all else. Australian filmmaker Sari Braithwaite’s documentary paints an intimate portrait of working-class struggle. Braithwaite places an achingly revealing spotlight on the forces that strengthen and weaken family bonds. Because We Have Each Other delivers a heartfelt and inspiring tale about how unconditional love and acceptance help people find resilience in the face of life’s greatest challenges.

Screening with Short Film

Regard Silence | Santiago Zermeño | Mexico | Doc | 2022 | 29 minutes | Spanish with English subtitles with open captions

Regard Silence shows several deaf people participating in a poetry workshop. Their attempts to express themselves are alternated in the film with individual interviews about being a deaf person communicating in a hearing world. How does it affect one’s sense of self-worth to learn sign language after years of lip reading? – IDFA

GENRE: DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE), DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
KEYWORDS: BIPOLAR DISORDER | SCHIZOPHRENIA | MISSING PERSON | FAMILY | UNORTHODOX TREATMENT

Noella Luka’s riveting autobiographical documentary deftly explores the grief of dreams diverted by a bipolar diagnosis and the vulnerability of searching for the right support and community while navigating new and difficult life changes. Her plans to live and work in film abroad are cut short by her initial hospitalization, and she returns home to Kenya where mental health issues remain strictly taboo. Once there, she decides to document and dig into the how and why of her condition, running up against tradition, prejudice, and uncertainty, which makes even discussing the subject of illness uncomfortable for both family and friends. With a lack of references to guide them, those close to her are truly unsure of what this shift in circumstance really means. Undaunted, Luka looks for further understanding and a sense of community in a mental health support group, where she befriends newly diagnosed schizophrenic Nick–a man who recently returned home from Colombia after putting an end to his quest to become a Catholic priest. Through Nick, viewers are given a unique and disturbing opportunity to observe how certain mental illnesses are still viewed and treated, even in the 21st century. In exploring their unique situations, Luka gives voice to all those navigating the often uncharted waters of mental health–for those both with and without support systems in place–and offers a truly inspiring story of hope, change and possibility.

Screening with Short Film

Katanga Nation | Beza Hailu Lemma, Hiwot Admasu Getaneh | Ethiopia, South Africa | Doc | 2022 | 26 minutes | Amharic with English Subtitles 

Enkehone, naive but ambitious and from rural Ethiopia, lives in a hostel in the bustling neighborhood of Katanga. His host, Amele, lives in the back room of the dorms she rents out. As the path to his dreams unfold in uncertainty, Enkehone witnesses the raw, chaotic, and captivating life of his host family and their community in the last days of Katanga before it is engulfed by the monstrous construction of Addis Ababa.

GENRE: DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE), DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
KEYWORDS: TRAUMA | HEALING | ILLNESS | FAMILIES | MENTAL HEALTH

It’s never easy to talk about mortality with our loved ones. It’s even harder between a physician mother who excels at hiding her emotions under rationality and a daughter who spent her childhood solving math problems next to the morgue. They avoid conversation about mortality and related feelings at all costs – until the mother becomes a cancer patient and the daughter becomes her caregiver.

Screening with Short Film

Uproot | Queena Liu | Canada | Doc | 2023 | 11 minutes English and Cantonese with English subtitles 

“Ten years ago, my dad was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in his forties and spent two years in and out of a psychiatric hospital. This film documents my first time having an open and honest conversation with my family about his diagnosis that I never could as a child and explores how mental health care in immigrant communities is often complicated by a cultural and generational divide. Even as I gain a new perspective on my family’s silent struggles, putting together my interpretation of their stories, I still feel the need to hide myself behind the camera.”

GENRE: DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE) | DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
KEYWORDS: INDIGENOUS ISSUES | TRAUMA | FAMILY | HEALING

“I’m a descendent of a people who have more or less disappeared, all that’s left are a few indigenous and mixed-race people dotted around the world”. Having arrived in Europe at the age of 19 and lived in Brussels for many years, Colombian Sergio Guataquira Sarmiento carries a complex idea of his identity deep inside of him, because not only is he living in exile, he’s also an Indian, and “being an Indian person in Colombia is a burden, a source of shame, so we tend to lie low and westernise ourselves.” When the filmmaker learns that an epidemic of young indigenous people hanging themselves is raging through the jungle in his home country, he decides to visit the area in person, moved by a desire to investigate this phenomenon, but also to untangle his own confused feelings related to his roots” – ​​Fabien Lemercier (Cineuropa)

Screening with Short Film

Love and the Art of Despair | 2023 | Tara Grundmanis | Canada | 9 minutes | English with open captions

Love and the Art of Despair is a profile on Rebeccah Love; a Toronto based filmmaker who perseveres over mental and physical illness to create art.

GENRE: DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE), DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
KEYWORDS: AGING | DEMENTIA | GRIEF | FAMILY

German filmmaker Astrid Menzel makes her feature-length documentary debut with this incredibly personal and moving story of loss, love, and legacy. Following the death of her beloved grandfather E.O., the director and her brother embark on a 10-day canoe trip through the North of Germany with their widowed 86-year-old grandmother–a woman slowly succumbing to progressive dementia. Looking for some semblance of control at a time when grief seems insurmountable and change never-ending, a determined Menzel invites her grandmother to become a part of the planning and organization, looking for ways to connect with and involve her simultaneously. Eventually, the unlikely trio set out on a unique, emotional and unflinchingly honest journey that helps all three uncover different and changing perspectives on their existing relationships. With some distance and time come a little patience, unexpected joy and sorrow, and a brand new understanding of exactly what being there for someone you care about truly means.

Streams (online only) with Short Film:

White Noise | Tamara Scherbak | Canada | Drama | 2023 | 18 minutes | English with open captions

White Noise follows Ava, who suffers from misophonia – an extreme hyper-sensitivity to sound. When this reaches new terrifying heights, her doctor enrolls her in an experimental trial involving an anechoic chamber: the world’s quietest room.

PANEL

After the film enjoy a conversation with the film’s director Astrid Menzel; moderated by Jutta Brendemuehl from the Goethe Institut, Toronto.

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

GENRE: DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
KEYWORDS: SUICIDE | TRAUMA | FAMILY | OVERSTIMULATION | ANXIETY

back home follows the filmmaker’s pursuit to get to know her older brother, Josh, twenty years after he took his own life. As she connects with the friends who knew him best as a teen, a complex portrait emerges. Through intimate recollections re-imagined on Super8 and 16mm, and lyrical images hand-processed with plants, seaweed, soil and ashes, back home floats between memory and present time in a fragmented meditation on identity, grief and loss: illuminating the transformative power of healing in community.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

It is my pleasure to share my first feature film, “back home,” with you. I was 11 years old when Josh’s death forever changed our family and shifted my perspective on the value of closeness and the impact broader society can have on a young mind. “Back home”’s unique handmade quality recalls the photochemical processes I found solace in during my teenage years when I took refuge in the high school darkroom. The abstract film images represent the changing chemistry of Josh’s brain, as well as illustrating my physical pain – a manifest form of grief.

Screening with Short Film

White Noise | Tamara Scherbak | Canada | Drama | 2023 | 18 minutes | English with open captions

White Noise follows Ava, who suffers from misophonia – an extreme hyper-sensitivity to sound. When this reaches new terrifying heights, her doctor enrolls her in an experimental trial involving an anechoic chamber: the world’s quietest room.

LES PRIÈRES DE DELPHINE | DELPHINE’S PRAYERS | Rosine Mbakam | 2021 | Belgium / Cameroon | 91 minutes | Toronto Premiere | French with English Subtitles

On October 28th at Rendezvous With Madness enjoy an in person screening of the film Les Prières De Delphine/ Delphine’s Prayers directed by Rosine Mbakam. The event features a post-film talk with the director.

Les Prières De Delphine/ Delphine’s Prayers is a brutal and intimate portrait by Rosine Mbakam, a Cameroonian filmmaker based in Belgium who introduces us to her friend and compatriot Delphine, a young Cameroonian girl who after the death of her mother and the abandonment of her father’s parental responsibilities, was raped at the age of 13. She engages with sex work to support herself and her daughter and ends up marrying a Belgian man who is three times her age, hoping to find a better life in Europe. Seven years later, the European dream has faded and her situation has only gotten worse. Delphine, like others, is part of a generation of young African women crushed by patriarchal societies and left with Western sexual colonization as the only means of survival. Winner of the IndieLisboa Award for best film, Les prières de Delphine is a candid story of courage and strength in the face of racism, misogyny and poverty.

For accessibility Les Prières De Delphine | Delphine’s Prayers is also available online via Workman Arts & Cinesend from October 27th to November 6th 2022  

Keywords: Domestic Violence | Racism | Family | Generational Trauma | Colonialism
Genre: Documentary
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