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.

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.

Screening with

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. 

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.

In 1964, at the age of 28, a queer dancer named Fred Herko jetéd out the window of his ex-lover’s apartment – naked, and high on speed. The Life and Death of Fred Herko is an interdisciplinary, site-specific performance that sheds light on a footnoted figure in queer history and examines the collateral damage of art.

Through striking sound design, movement and text the piece reimagines the dancer’s infamous last moments and seeks to find utopian potential in his tragic story.

The research and development of this piece has been generously supported by the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts.

Suggested Dress Code: Party Glam

Director: Claire Burns
Writer: Natalie Liconti
Sound Design: Devon Bate
Lighting Design: Darah Miah
Production Management: Taylor Young
Set and Installation Design: James Knott
Stage Management: Kit Simmons
Irma Villafuerte: Choreographer
Performers: Oliver Price, Daniel Carter, Andrew Cheng and Sochi Fried
Special Thanks to Brian Quirt