Marianne Joan Elliott-Said (aka Poly Styrene) is a punk rock legend. She entered the music business as
a rebellious teenager with big dreams and then willed those dreams into reality. As the frontwoman for her band X-Ray Spex, Poly Styrene was the first Black woman in the UK to front a successful rock band. She would go on to earn legions of fans by producing defiant songs about consumerism, class, and
racial identity.

Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché looks at the icon’s life and career from the perspective of her daughter, the film’s co-director, Celeste Bell. Bell uses archival footage, electrifying live performances, and her mother’s diary entries to celebrate Marianne Joan Elliott-Said, and Poly Styrene. Narrated by Oscar-nominee Ruth Negga, this intimate portrait of a punk icon offers a candid look at a reluctant public
figure who struggled with fame while battling mental illness.

SCREENING WITH ABSOLUTE PANIC
TJ McEachran | 2019 | Canada | 1 minute | English
A music video for “Absolute Panic,” a song from R U Experiencing Discomfort?, the debut album by
Vancouver’s punk band, Bedwetters Anonymous made by its bassist/vocalist.

Keywords: Gender | Immigration | Mother & Daughter | Punk rock | Racism

The Malian city of Gao in western Africa has for decades been a peaceful haven for hopeful migrants.
On the edge of the Sahel desert lies the House of Migrants, a temporary home for thousands of people every year. The hopeful ones are on their  way to Europe alongside those whose luck ran out and who are now on their way back to their hometowns and families across Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin and beyond.
Documentarian Samassékou listens to two young girls and a middle-aged woman lying in a small room and exchanging dreams and stories. Elsewhere in the house, young men are watching wrestling on TV. Samassékou’s attentive camera frames the faces, the voices and their stories in a uniquely beautiful and humane film no longer solely about having a home. The atmosphere in the house itself expresses the melancholy of exile through calm, intimate and vulnerable images. All around the city, new and old wars are taking place in the endless desert.

SCREENING WITH IN-TENTS
Stephanie Nakashima and Scott Morris | 2021 | Canada | 11 min | English
In this brand new diaristic documentary we follow individuals who are experiencing homelessness in
Hamilton, Ontario and learn their experiences with systemic barriers to housing and health care in the
midst of a global pandemic.

Keywords: Freedom | Im/migration | Refugees | Trauma

We are pleased to co-present the ReelAbilities Film Festival screening of The World Is Bright – a riveting Canadian documentary following the epic 10-year journey of a Chinese couple searching for the truth behind their son’s death in Canada. On May 30th at 2 PM, audiences are invited to watch The World Is Bright, which will be followed by a panel about Mental health and Immigration at 4:30 PM.

The World is Bright follows the real-life journey of an elderly Chinese couple searching for the truth behind their son Shi-Ming’s sudden death in Canada. Shi-Ming was buried before his parents living in Beijing were notified. Over ten years, director Ying Wang documents Shi-Ming’s parents as they enter a long and arduous legal battle to understand how their son – a young Canadian immigrant – could have died. Shi-Ming’s parents are resilient in their search for truth despite language barriers and overly bureaucratic and complex processes they have to endure. The film uses re-enactments and interviews with Shi-Ming’s friends and family to thoroughly examine the intersection of immigration, family expectations and mental health. While attentively portraying the emotional and physical pains Shi-Ming’s parents go through to try and solve this case, The World is Bright exposes some ugly truths about the Canadian immigration system and its treatment of newcomers living with mental health issues.

Join us for a virtual panel with The World is Bright director Ying Wang, Shi-Ming’s family lawyer Lawrence Wong, Dr. Kenneth Fung, Clinical Director of Asian Initiative in Mental Health Program at TWH, and Bonnie Wong, Executive Director of Hong Fook Mental Health Association. The speakers will discuss mental health within immigrant communities in Canada and delve into different ways Canadian immigration law fails to accommodate and support newcomers with mental health experiences.