WATCH ONLINE
Oct 29 – Nov 7 available across Canada
WATCH ONLINE
Oct 29 – Nov 7 available across Canada
PRE-RECORDED VIRTUAL Q&A
Available with the film
Deepa Dhanraj / 2018 / Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati and English with English subtitles / India / 110 mins / Canadian Premiere
Rohith Vemula, a Dalit Ph.D research scholar and activist at University of Hyderabad who was persecuted by the university administration and Hindu supremacists, died of suicide on January 17, 2016. His suicide note, which argued against the “value of a man being reduced to his immediate identity” galvanized student politics and solidarity movements. The ensuing outrage gave rise to protests across India, calling the neglectful treatment and systemic oppression faced by Dalit people into question, and encouraging solidarity with minority groups facing similar discrimination from Hindu nationalists, students, administration and aligned governing authorities.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION: Q&A WITH DEEPA DHANRAJ
Please watch a pre-recorded Q&A with the director of We Have Not Come Here to Die, Deepa Dhanraj and the Director of As I Want, Samaher Alqadi moderated by filmmaker and film programmer Aisha Jamal.
We are excited to co-present the program “what is erased occasionally returns as a ghost” at the 2021 Images Festival. This year, Images Festival is FREE online via live-stream at imagesfestival.com from May 20-26, 2021.
“what is erased occasionally returns as a ghost” features works by Emily Vey Duke & Cooper Battersby, Ruth Höflich, Vika Kirchenbauer, Kamila Kuc, and Laida Lertxundi. The program will screen on Sunday, May 23 at 8:00 PM EDT with a Q & A to follow with the artists moderated by Bojana Stancic. Co-presented with 8fest, Canadian Film Institute, and Workman Arts/Rendezvous With Madness.
D: Steve Sanguedolce / 2016 / English / RATING: NC-17 / Canada / 71 min
GENRE: DOCUMENTARY
TOPIC: SUICIDE
TYPE: FILM
We are thrilled to co-present Land of Not Knowing at the Singapore Mental Health Film Festival. The film and accompanying talk will be available to screen within Canada.
In this bold new experimental documentary, four artists talk about suicide: the role the recurring thought has played in their life and art, the struggle to understand and overcome the impulse, and the ongoing confrontation with a form of stigma that renders the very concept of suicide as a kind of pariah even among mental health issues and discussions. With a frankness that is both bracing and illuminating, Sanguedolce’s subjects tell their stories, and the filmmaker responds with a striking visual scheme that permits us something rarely attempted in the engagement with this most misunderstood of conditions: a sense of first person understanding.
The film is accompanied by a panel discussion: “Suicide: Can talk or not?” on May 27, at 8:00 PM Singapore time (8:00 AM ET) A total of 400 suicides were recorded in Singapore in 2019, with youths aged 10 to 29 representing a significant portion of this figure. Despite general consensus on the need to curb and prevent suicide, many of us find ourselves not knowing how to approach this seeming delicate topic:
How do we talk about suicide? Are there signs to it?
Will asking about suicide compel one to act on it?
What are the psychological and sociological causes of suicide?
This panel conversation will explore what goes on in the mind of an individual contemplating suicide, and learn about possible signs and symptoms. We will also share ways in which we can reach out to suicidal individuals, and how we can talk about suicide in a safe and appropriate manner. Additionally, the panel will highlight the importance of looking at suicide beyond the individual, and to understand its larger socio-cultural influences. This panel will also examine the impact of suicide on those who are left behind – and how we can support these ‘suicide survivors’.
Sometimes the “show must not go on” and that’s ok.
When I made the decision to not move forward with my piece Jo Don’t Go There in Rendezvous with Madness 2020, I was encouraged by my friend and contact at Workman Arts to write a short reflection for all of you in lieu of the show. Here you will find some rambling, musing, and reflecting. Thank you for taking a brief moment to reflect with me.
When I agreed to move forward with the project several months ago, I was excited by the challenge of transferring my live performance pieces to video web content. Unfortunately, I found that meeting the demands of a precarious/always changing pandemic environment made completing the project difficult. I am an artist that lives with chronic pain, Rheumatoid Arthritis, PTSD symptoms, and OCD symptoms. The greatest lesson I have learned from managing all of these is that I should not go beyond my limits. Unfortunately, working in solo-isolation and not having funding to adequately compensate others to do the much-needed-tasks to make this project show-ready was bringing me close to my limits.
Since I made the choice to pause the show, the phrase “the show must go on” has been echoing through my mind. Upon reflecting on the nagging presence of this phrase within my mind, I recall that I have, almost exclusively, operated within creative environments where that sentence is espoused. I have worked in so many creative environments where the expectation to see a show to its completion is demanded of artists, producers, and production teams: no matter the cost. My years training to be an artist and working professionally have been colored by watching many friends and colleagues sacrifice their physical and mental health to see work to its completion. For many years I have wondered if creative communities should let go of the phrase “the show much go on” and refrain from normalizing the practice of sacrificing physical and mental wellness amongst artists. What I have witnessed in theatre schools and amongst theatre makers has made me consciously attempt to avoid working myself beyond my limits so that I do not worsen my already-sometimes-very-challenging health.
So I say once again, to comfort myself and to encourage those who find themselves also facing projects, businesses, and plans that need to be put on pause, closed, or canceled as a result of the pandemic: “the show must not go on” and that’s ok.
I’d like to offer gratitude to the team who has assisted me during this process. Though the show will not be viewed in this festival, I am continuing the reflect on and develop the body of work I have made thus far. I feel I must offer my deep gratitude to all those who gave me their time and talents.
I hope you enjoy the rest of the festival, you remember to stay safe, you do what you can to support and aid the most vulnerable in our communities, you donate to groups and organizations that are trying to address the already existing racial and economic inequality within North America that has been exacerbated by the pandemic, and you all focus your energies on taking care of your immunity and your mental health while the world faces global crisis. I know I will!
I send love and gratitude to you all.
-Oliver Jane
goat(h)owl theatre / Lead Artist, Performer, Creator, Writer: Oliver Jane / Collaborator, Performer: Leah Pritchard / Collaborator, Performer: Jillian Rees-Brown / Video Collaborator, Editor: Jon Jorgensen
GENRE: MULTIMEDIA, PERFORMANCE ART, THEATRE
TOPIC: ACTIVISM, ANXIETY, BI-POLAR DISORDER(S), DEPRESSION, DISABILITY, FAMILY, PSYCHIATRY, RACISM, SCHIZOPHRENIA, SEXUAL ASSAULT, SEXUAL VIOLENCE, SUICIDE, TRAUMA
Enter the mind of Jo, a nonbinary trauma survivor, video artist and clown. Meet Jo’s consciousness embodied: their performative imaginary friend Oli Oli Ennui, a snarky clown who doesn’t take all this modern art stuff too seriously. If you know Jo’s personal story (hailing from NYC, navigating OCD and PTSD while occupying space in Toronto during the pandemic), do you know Jo? If you hear Oli sing punk-injected cabaret, do you know their soul? Experience Jo’s multimedia happening: a video series, music playlists, Instagram uploads, photo exhibition and a live installation performance at 651 Dufferin Street. This collection of fragments resonates in permanent refrain: Do you know me now?
Founded by Maria Wodzinska and Oliver Jane in 2017, goat(h)owl generates collaboratively devised experiences. Grounded in the body, at the core of every piece is a question. We take flight through our investigation of the thematic territory, of our position to the question, and of our will-to-know. We attempt to affirm the unknowable with proposals — playing in-front-of/with/around an audience. We want to shake up sedimented modalities of meaning and truth-telling with our moving ensemble. We point the eye to the kaleidoscope of forms created. Do we invite the audience to make meaning? Yes. Do we make meaning? Come and see.
CONTENT WARNINGS
Loud Sounds, Mature Language, Nudity, Rape and/or Sexual Violence, Sexual Content, Suicide
Creator: Laura Shintani / A/V: Grant Padley
GENRE: INSTALLATION, INTERACTIVE
TOPIC: ACTIVISM, ADDICTION, ANXIETY, BI-POLAR DISORDER(S), BIPOC EXPERIENCE, COMMUNITY, DEPRESSION, DISABILITY, FAMILY, HARM REDUCTION, LGBTQ2S+, PSYCHIATRY, SCHIZOPHRENIA, SEXUAL ASSAULT, SEXUAL VIOLENCE, SUICIDE, TRAUMA, YOUTH
Neuroelastic is a self-activated artistic performance. Taking a cue from the well-known concept of Dr. Norman Doidge’s neuroplasticity, it is inspiring that the mind can adapt in new ways. The artist imagined an idea; by wrapping oneself in streams of coloured synaptic “bandages” this symbolic act can allow thoughts and feelings to show on the outside. Using photography as documentation, a capture of the moment reveals what is hidden. This artwork of self-permission reflects on not only the unseen being seen, but that it can be changed. This collection of images I hope can read as a zany family album of the mind. Neuroelastic is an interior selfie and an invitation to an altered way of being.
Laura Shintani is a Toronto-based multimedia artist who creates work in order to provoke questions in artistic forms. Shintani represents a hybrid of work, art making, study and teaching. She is interested in seeing people embrace the cycle of creativity: playing, problem solving and reflecting. Raised in small-town Ontario, Shintani later studied fashion design at Ryerson University and received a degree from the University of Toronto. After personal discovery she made art a vocation and earned a Master of Fine Art from the University of Windsor. Shintani’s most significant exhibition was at the Royal Ontario Museum in 2019.
This artist has interactive materials which will be provided in the RWM swag bag in order to interact with their virtual content. All ticket holders will be invited to receive RWM swag bags available for free curbside pickup during festival hours.
Photos by Henry Chang
Please Note: There is one virtual ticket available for the entire Re:Building Resilience Exhibition. Whether you’d like to see one project or all of them, you only need to book one ticket to access everything. The exhibition runs October 15-25, and all ticket purchasers will be sent a link to view the virtual content. Any ticket bought prior to October 15 will receive a follow up email on the 15th with the link.
Self-Care Kits are available for free curbside pickup to ticket holders. Kits can be picked up from 651 Dufferin Street between the hours of 10AM-9PM, October 15-25. If pickup is not an accessible option for you, contact justina_zatzman@workmanarts.com for accommodation.
Writer/Performer: Pesch Nepoose / Dramaturge/Director: Ed Roy / Producer/Stage Manager/Media Outreach: Jesse Wabegijig
GENRE: THEATRE
TOPIC: ADDICTION, BIPOC EXPERIENCE, DEPRESSION, FAMILY, SUICIDE, TRAUMA, YOUTH
TYPE: PERFORMANCE
The Bridge is a one-woman play that will be staged in front of a live audience. One night, a young indigenous woman is confessing her struggles as she sits on a bridge overlooking a ravine. Her memories come back to life in the evening wind. Kara comes face to face with her addiction, depression and loss of identity.
Pesch Nepoose is a Cree multidisciplinary artist from Edmonton, Alberta, currently residing in Toronto, Ontario. She graduated her fourth and final year at the Centre for Indigenous Theatre in May, 2019. Pesch has many skills and experience as an actor, writer, dancer, singer and stage manager. As a full time actor, she has been a part of many projects including the film By These Presents with Ange Loft, also acting in the short film Hunger which premiered at the ImagineNative Film Festival 2019. Pesch enjoys working with Clay and Paper Theatre, Jumblies Theatre, the Encounters collective and many others. While attending C.I.T. she formed a collective with her two classmates and created the play S.O.S. Saving Our Sovereignty, which was part of the Paprika Festival and Weesageechak Begins to Dance Festival. Pesch was in the Paprika Festival again as a solo artist writing her one woman show currently titled The Bridge. She plans to continue the play with Nightwood Theater’s Write from the Hip program.
CONTENT WARNINGS
Adult Language, Suicide
Please Note: There is one virtual ticket available for the entire Re:Building Resilience Exhibition. Whether you’d like to see one project or all of them, you only need to book one ticket to access everything. The exhibition runs October 15-25, and all ticket purchasers will be sent a link to view the virtual content. Any ticket bought prior to October 15 will receive a follow up email on the 15th with the link.
Self-Care Kits are available for free curbside pickup to ticket holders. Kits can be picked up from 651 Dufferin Street between the hours of 12PM-9PM, October 15-25. If pickup is not an accessible option for you, contact justina_zatzman@workmanarts.com for accommodation.
Quarter Kid Productions / Creator and Co-producer: Moncef Mounir / Co-producer: Suze Berkhout / Sketch Artist: Michael Vuong / Logistical Support: Alexander Galeazzi, Rick Grimes, Alex MacIntyre, Paul Nguyen
GENRE: POETRY
TOPIC: DEPRESSION, DISABILITY, PSYCHIATRY, SCHIZOPHRENIA, SUICIDE, TRAUMA
Prose In Therapy is a convergence of free form poetics and imitated therapy. This work is meant to break down the formality of medical procedures through the use of atypical document format aesthetics. The intimate and thought-provoking language used is accompanied by somewhat childish drawings that play on the somatic realities of mortality. Prose In Therapy addresses the delicate situation of being a patient in mental health recovery while verging into themes of honesty, sexuality and economic frustration. The cartoon drawings found on each page of Prose In Therapy were made in collaboration with local sketch artist Michael Vuong. These poems were all read to audiences at Toronto open-mic events including local venues Shab-e She’r and Art Bar.
Moncef Mounir was born in Rabat, Morocco. He is a poet, visual artist and the director of Quaker Kid Productions (QKP), a print media outfit with various collaborative chapbook and zine works. He has spent a decade as a skilled labourer across the City of Toronto and works as a legal assistant after receiving his P1 paralegal’s license. Moncef operates 20scene.com, a blog-style venue to expose his live music editorial zines while also releasing QKP print media works. Moncef has spent over 7 years in mental health recovery and has 4 years abstinence from drugs and alcohol as of September 2020.
CONTENT WARNING
Mature Language, Sexual Content, Suicide
This artist has an item in the RWM swag bag to go with their piece in the exhibition. All ticket holders will be invited to receive RWM swag bags available for free curbside pickup during festival hours.
Photos by Henry Chang
Please Note: There is one virtual ticket available for the entire Re:Building Resilience Exhibition. Whether you’d like to see one project or all of them, you only need to book one ticket to access everything. The exhibition runs October 15-25, and all purchasers will be sent a link to view the virtual content. Any ticket bought prior to October 15 will receive a follow up email on the 15th with the link.
Self-Care Kits are available for free curbside pickup to ticket holders. Kits can be picked up from 651 Dufferin Street between the hours of 12PM-9PM, October 15-25. If pickup is not an accessible option for you, contact justina_zatzman@workmanarts.com for accommodation.
Moncef Mounir will be participating in the virtual panel discussion Literary Balms: the Healing Properties of Art and Text on October 19, at 4 PM. Click here to book a ticket.
Wheelchair Accessible Venue
Richard Lowenstein / 2019 / Australia / 104 min / FREE
GENRE: DOCUMENTARY
TOPIC: DEPRESSION, MUSIC, SUICIDE
TYPE: FILM
Wildly popular singer-songwriter Michael Hutchence created a new sensation as the enigmatic frontman of the Australian band INXS, but what do we really know about this shining star who left the world far too soon? Peeling away the myths surrounding the singer’s untimely suicide, director Richard Lowenstein unravels how a life-altering brain injury led Hutchence on a tragic downward spiral into depression. Weaving together home movies and interviews with loved ones, including ex-girlfriends Kylie Minogue and Helena Christensen, this Hot Docs ‘19 selection is a deeply poignant tribute to one of music’s most misunderstood showmen.
Followed by a Q&A with special guests and subject matter experts.
In partnership with Bell Let’s Talk and Hot Docs, we’re showcasing a series of free docs-and-conversations about mental health leading up to and on the 10th annual Bell Let’s Talk Day. Join the conversation to break the stigma around mental illness and help create positive change. Each doc will feature a post-screening Q&A with special guests and experts.
In recognition of the potentially triggering content of the participating films, supportive listeners will be present at each screening.
Tickets: FREE (maximum of two per person). Available as of Tuesday, January 7.
Heinrich Dahms / 2018 / Japanese with English Subtitles / Netherlands, Japan / 93 min / North American Premiere
GENRE: DOCUMENTARY
TYPE: FILM
After losing an uncle and two friends to suicide, Zen Buddhist Ittetsu Nemoto made it his life’s work to support individuals struggling with depression and suicidal ideation. Despite cultural taboos from a temple in the high mountains of central Japan, Ittetsu Nemoto takes a community-focused, holistic approach to healing trauma. My Soul Drifts Light Upon a Sea of Trees inscribes the journey and mission of Nemoto as he helps three people find life after limbo. As each person candidly reveals their story of what the edge of life felt like, a therapeutic effect transfixes the audience. With this remarkable film, a quiet plea for a radical shift in the way we think about suicide is heard.
Ancestral Mindscapes
Rick Miller | 2019 | Canada | 15 mins | World Premiere
From the traditional territories of the Micmac Nation of Gespeg to the small town of Gaspé, Québec, director Rick Miller reveals to the audience his family’s lineage and how it has defined and illuminated his relationship with mental health.
My Soul Drifts with Ittetsu Nemoto
Join us for a discussion with the subject of My Soul Drifts Light Upon a Sea of Trees. Internationally known Buddhist priest Ittetsu Nemoto will be joining us via Skype to talk about his life’s mission to provide space and time for those who live with depression.
Workman Arts Theatre has stairs up from the street into the building and into the theatre and stairs down to the washrooms.
Written and Directed by Grace Thompson / Talk Like You Theatre / 60 min / Toronto Premiere
GENRE: THEATRE
TOPIC: DEPRESSION, SUICIDE, YOUTH
TYPE: PERFORMANCE
Charlie is looking for happy, Remi is a struggling musician and bartender who has clinical depression, Jinx is a burlesque performer and PHD candidate who works at The Orange Balloon, and Minka, no one knows what Minka does. In This House is a play about four young adults living together in Toronto. It is a look into the epidemic of loneliness and depression among the Millennial generation and the daily struggle to make something of yourself in this city. In This House is a play about a generation, a city and an exact time in our lives. This is a play about how we save each other.
Written and Directed by Grace Thompson
Performed by: Astrid Atherly, Jonathan Sconza, Rosie Callaghan and Ciana Henderson
Stage Manager: Erin Maxfield
Set and Lighting Design: Lisa Van Oorschot
Sound Design: Shannon Farrell
Millennial Mental Health: a two-part conversation
How are young people today talking about suicide? How are Millennials navigating their experiences with mental health and addictions? Join the cast of In this House after the shows on October 12 and October 15 as they discuss the production themes and their experiences navigating between being emerging artists, living on their own for the first time and managing their mental health. This two-part conversation will explore the unique difficulties for young people in Canada, and the communities of support being created as a response.