Streaming across Canada October 27th to November 6th

BIGGER THAN TRAUMA
Vedrana Pribacic | 2022 | Croatia | 90 minutes | Croatian with English subtitles

Rendezvous With Madness is pleased to present the extraordinary documentary film Bigger Than Trauma directed by Vedrana Pribacic available for streaming across Canada from October 27th to November 6th 

The brutal Croatian War of Independence came to an end in 1995, but survivors of the conflict continue to feel its devastating effects almost 30 years later. Justice has been slow in coming–if it comes at all–and institutional supports are few and far between, particularly for women who continue to live side-by-side with the very men who captured, tortured and raped them. 

Vedrana Pribacic’s Bigger Than Trauma is an intimate portrait of a group of Serbian and Croatian women who join a groundbreaking and unconventional therapy group to break their long-held silences, share their individual experiences and empower them to begin the long road to healing. However, their journey is not without its fair share of obstacles of pain revisited, cultural friction and resentment. In this tender setting, his documentary gives voice to the oft-forgotten and ignored victims of war for their own self-determination after trauma. 

Screening with
Yaren and the Sun | 2021 | Joren Slaets, Renate Raman | Belgium | 19 minutes | Dutch with English subtitles 

Yaren’s mother died when she was six. Her friend Kato’s father died a year ago. Yet the atmosphere in a therapeutic summer camp is far from mournful when one of the supervisors dances with a girl to the lively song “La Bamba.” It’s fine to have fun, the children learn—it can coexist with sadness.

Keywords: Women’s Issues | Trauma | War | Mutual Aid | Healing
Genre: Documentary (feature) Documentary (short)
#RWMFEST #MoreThanRebellion

Streaming across Canada October 27th to November 6th

VIVRE EN GRAND | BIGGER THAN US
Flore Vasseur | 2021 | France | 95 minutes | English 

How does one keep it together in a world coming apart at the seams? Climate change ravages the planet as greedy corporations keep polluting the environment at an unsustainable rate. With much of the global population living like there’s no tomorrow, fighting for change can feel pointless. Writer-director Flore Vasseur’s documentary, Bigger Than Us, offers viewers reason to remain hopeful.

Bigger Than Us follows 18-year-old Indonesian activist Melati Wijsen on her quest to meet with the 18 to 25-year-olds fighting for change. Melati heads to Lebanon, Malawi, Greece, the United States, Brazil and Uganda, to celebrate the activists fighting for free speech, food security and equal rights. These defiant young people refuse to let soulless corporations and self-interested politicians dictate their future. This beautifully shot documentary will shock, inspire and most importantly, leave viewers hopeful about the future. 

Yaren’s mother died when she was six. Her friend Kato’s father died a year ago. Yet the atmosphere in a therapeutic summer camp is far from mournful when one of the supervisors dances with a girl to the lively song “La Bamba.” It’s fine to have fun, the children learn—it can coexist with sadness.

Keywords: Climate Change | Women’s Rights | Refugee Crisis
Genre: Documentary (feature) Documentary (short)
#RWMFEST #MoreThanRebellion

In person screening — Saturday, October 29th at 7 PM
Camh Auditorium 
1025 Queen Street West, Toronto

Streaming across Canada October 27th to November 6th

MIS DOS VOCES / MY TWO VOICES  
Lina Rodriguez | 2022 | Canada | 68 minutes | Spanish with English subtitles

On October 27th at Rendezvous With Madness enjoy an in person screening of the film Mis Dos Voces / My Two Voices directed by Colombian/Canadian filmmaker Lina Rodriguez. Post-film talk moderated by Tamara Toledo

 In My Two Voices, Canadian director Lina Rodriguez paints a lyrical and truly unique portrait of what it means to be an immigrant and how this can affect one’s sense of self. Shot with luminous 16mm film, the documentary introduces audiences to three Latina women who gradually reveal their individual migration stories, discuss the inherent challenges in starting afresh in a new country and explore how those difficult experiences have shaped their lives. Though their origins differ greatly, all three have faced similar struggles with language and belonging as they attempt to balance their present with complicated memories of the past. Rodriguez allows the identities of these women to remain concealed throughout and, instead, useså their voices to shift perspectives and reframe their emotional journeys of self-discovery and understanding. My Two Voices is a thoughtfully constructed cinematic ode to resilience in the face of trauma and perseverance in the face of seismic upheaval.

Tamara Toledo is a Chilean-born Toronto-based curator, scholar, writer, and artist. For over a decade, Toledo has curated numerous exhibitions offering spaces, platforms and opportunities to Latin American and diasporic artists. 

 Screening with Under The Full Moon  | Lynn Dana Wilton | 2022 | Canada | 1 minute | silent 
When anxiety affects g your ability to sleep it can be difficult to tell what is real and what is a dream. A short film animated with vine charcoal.

For accessibility Mis Dos Voces / My Two Voices and Under the Full Moon are also available online via Workman Arts & Cinesend from October 27th to November 6th, 2022 

Keywords: Resilience | Immigration | Women’s Issues
Genre: Documentary (Feature) Animation (short)
#RWMFEST #MoreThanRebellion

AS I WANT

AS I WANT

WATCH ONLINE
Oct 29 – Nov 7 available across Canada

PRE-RECORDED VIRTUAL Q&A
Available with the film

ACCESSIBILITY

Samaher Alqadi / 2021 / Arabic with English Subtitles / Egypt / France / Norway / Palestine / Germany / 86 mins / Canadian Premiere

Through words left unsaid to her late mother, director Samaher Alqadi’s next journey is unknown.
That is, until filming collides with a massive outpouring of enraged women filling the streets in response to an escalation of sexual assaults that take place in Tahrir Square on the second anniversary of the revolution. Alqadi utilizes her camera as a form of protection and begins documenting the growing women’s rebellion, not knowing where the story will lead her. When Alqadi becomes pregnant
during filming, she begins to re-examine the societal constructs of her own childhood in Palestine and what it means to be a woman and a mother in the Middle East. As I Want is a crucial, hard-hitting political commentary and an inward journey in which individual emancipation is linked to the collective process of liberation in the Arab world.

 

JOIN THE CONVERSATION: Q&A
Watch a pre-recorded Q&A with the director of As I Want, Samaher Alqadi and the director of
We Have Not Come Here to Die, Deepa Dhanraj. Conversation moderated by filmmaker and film
programmer Aisha Jamal and available at the same link as the film.

 

Keywords: Assault | Motherhood | Protest | Revolution | Violence Against Women
COMMUNITY PARTNERS
Toronto Arab Film Festival
Toronto Palestine Film Festival
Goethe Institut

Chaos

Chaos

  • Tuesday, October 15, 7:00 PM
AGO

317 Dundas St. W
Toronto

ACCESSIBILITY

Wheelchair Accessible Venue, Open Captions

Sara Fattahi / 2018 / Arabic and German with English Subtitles / Austria, Syria, Lebanon, Qatar / 95 min / Toronto Premiere

TYPE: FILM

Winner of the Golden Leopard Award at the 2018 Locarno Film Festival, Chaos tells the story of three women in three cities and asks: what’s the effect of war on the human spirit? As the personal stories of these Syrian women are intimately revealed, Chaos bears witness to the scarred existence of survivors. One woman lives in Damascus, spending her days in silence as she grieves for her teenage son. Another has fled the country to a Swedish village, where she’s coping with traumas by painting. The third woman is Sara Fattahi herself, Chaos’ director, who now lives in Vienna. She’s portrayed on-screen by an actor, while excerpts from a radio interview with the Austrian author Ingeborg Bachmann give expression to Fattahi’s innermost feelings. Fattahi explores the women’s immediate surroundings with equal attention to detail; interiors speak to us, the winds whisper clues and the rain is tangible. Beguiling our senses, Fattahi draws us into the processes of profound grief and inner disengagement.

 

سارة فتاحي / 2018 / بالعربية والألمانية مع ترجمة إلى الإنجليزية / النمسا ، سوريا ، لبنان ، قطر / 95 دقيقة / العرض الأول في تورونتو

 

الصنف: وثائقي

الموضوع: الهجرة ، البقاء ، الصدمة ، قضايا المرأة

النوع: فيلم

 

يروي فيلم “فوضى” الحائز على جائزة الفهد الذهبي في مهرجان لوكارنو السينمائي لعام 2018 قصة ثلاث نساء في ثلاث مدن، متساءلاّّ عن تأثير الحرب على الروح الإنسانية. بينما يتم الكشف عن القصص الشخصية لهؤلاء النساء السوريات بحميمّية، يشهد “فوضى” على وجود الناجين المجروح. تعيش امرأة في دمشق وتقضي أيامها في صمت وهي تحدّ على ابنها المراهق. امرأة أخرى هربت من البلاد إلى قرية سويدية حيث تتعامل مع الصدمة عن طريق الرسم. والمرأة الثالثة هي سارة فتاحي مخرجة الفيلم والتي تعيش الآن في فييّنا، تم تصويرها على الشاشة من قبل ممثلة بينما تعبر مقتطفات من مقابلة إذاعية مع المؤلف النمساوي إنجبورغ باخمان عن مشاعرها الأعمق. تستكشف فتاحي محيط النساء المباشر باهتمام مماثل بالتفاصيل – تتحدث إلينا البنية الداخلية للأماكن وتهمس الريح عن دلالات ويصبح المطر ملموساّّ. تقوم فتاحي بخداع حواسنا وبذلك تجذبنا إلى عمليات الحزن العميق والانسحاب الداخلي.

#GETMAD: JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Displacement and the Syrian Refugee Crisis 

How does displacement affect those living with mental health conditions and how are mental health conditions a result of displacement? As we look at the film Chaos, we will take time to discuss the Syrian refugee crisis and how this global crisis intersects with gender, mental health diagnoses and the importance of sharing these stories.

GETMAD#: انضم إلى الحديث

النزوح وأزمة اللاجئين السوريين

 

كيف يؤثر النزوح على المصابين بأمراض الصحة النفسية وكيف تظهر حالات الصحة النفسية نتيجة النزوح؟ بعد أن نستعرض فيلم فوضى” سنكرّس بعض الوقت لمناقشة أزمة اللاجئين السوريين وكيف تتقاطع هذه الأزمة العالمية مع النوع الاجتماعي وتشخيصات الصحة النفسية وأهمية مشاركة القصص المتعلقة بها.

Aisha
Jamal
Moderator
Erum
Hasan
Panelist
Kinana
Issa
Panelist
CO-PRESENTERS
Savac

In Search...

In Search...

  • Saturday, October 12, 6:00 PM
AGO

317 Dundas St. W
Toronto

ACCESSIBILITY

Wheelchair Accessible Venue, Open Captions

Beryl Magoko / 2018 / German and Swahili with English Subtitles / Germany, Kenya / 90 min / Toronto Premiere

TYPE: FILM

Director Beryl Magoko underwent Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) as a child. Unlike many of her peers, she wasn’t forced into it. Feeling pressured by societal expectations, Beryl went through FGM behind her mother’s back. Nobody told her about the pain, guilt and trauma that would follow her into adulthood. Years later, Beryl learns that her FGM can be reversed with the help of reconstructive surgery. But after everything she has been through, she’s hesitant to make a decision. “Will I be making another terrible mistake?” In her documentary account, Beryl is searching for an answer. She asks other women who survived FGM about their experiences and thoughts on reconstructive surgery. By frontlining these stories, Beryl processes her trauma and exposes the extreme misogynist ideologies behind FGM.

 

Screening with

This River
Erika MacPherson, Katherena Vermette | 2016 | Canada | 19 min

Kyle Kematch and award-winning writer Katherena Vermette offer an Indigenous perspective on the devastating experience of searching for loved ones who have disappeared. Born out of the need to do something, their stories ignite a relationship between resilience and activism.

#GETMAD: JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Q&A with Beryl Magoko

Following the screening of In Search…, join the filmmaker (who is also the subject of the documentary) Beryl Magoko as she discusses working on the film which recounts her journey with reconstructive surgery after surviving Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) as a child.

PANELISTS

Danielle
Jacobson
Moderator
Beryl
Magoko
Filmmaker
CO-PRESENTER

Retrospekt (Retrospect)

Retrospekt (Retrospect)

  • Saturday, October 19, 2:30 PM
Workman Arts Theatre

651 Dufferin St
Toronto

ACCESSIBILITY

ASL Interpreted, Open Captions

The Workman Arts Theatre has stairs up from the street into the building and into the theatre and stairs down to the washrooms.

Esther Rots / 2018 / Dutch and Flemish with English Subtitles / Netherlands, Belgium / 101 min

GENRE: FICTION

TYPE: FILM

Retrospect is a chaotic puzzle of an unreliable narrator’s memories, anarchic bursts of punk music, sporadic and shredded timeline. And yet, in the heart of the story are Mette and her so-called ‘perfect’ nuclear family. Mette (Circé Lethem) is a domestic violence support worker, and the film starts with her intervening in a violent and abusive altercation involving a strange young couple on vacation.  It then jumps to a family dinner where Mette confronts her husband, who clearly doesn’t equate the importance of her career to his. After this uncomfortable scene, back to the future and Mette in the hospital following a catastrophic accident. She’s now in a wheelchair and has no recollection of preceding events. Gradually, Mette starts remembering how she invited Lee (Lien Wildemeersch), a client, to escape an abusive partner by moving in. The arrangement soon explodes, Mette’s flashbacks offering only vague clues to the calamity. But who is really to blame for Mette’s downfall?

CO-PRESENTER

ALSO OF INTEREST

Conviction

Conviction

  • Thursday, October 10, 6:30pm
WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY
Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema

506 Bloor St. W
Toronto

ACCESSIBILITY

Wheelchair Accessible Venue, Open Captions, Introduction and Q&A are ASL Interpreted and Live Captioned

Nance Ackerman, Teresa MacInnes, Ariella Pahlke / 2019 / Canada / 78 min

TYPE: FILM

“It’s not that we wanna be here... where else do we have to go?"

– Bianca Mercer

Bianca Mercer is one of many women affected by Canada’s ineffective prison system. With more resources being invested into prisons than communities, women have become the highest growing prison population in the world.

In Conviction, a team of documentary filmmakers gain access to a female correctional facility in Nova Scotia to tackle the crisis from within. Instead of simply conducting interviews, the filmmakers collaborate with Bianca and other women in the facility to create a deeply personal and prisoner’s-eye documentary. Utilizing cameras, spoken word poetry and art supplies, the women share their experiences with institutionalization and unapologetically address the ineptitude of incarceration. What can we do to prevent women from being imprisoned in the first place and stop systemic re-institutionalization? Working alongside the Elizabeth Fry Society and the filmmakers, the women envision a better alternative to a failing criminal justice system to build communities; not cages.

Pre-film reception starts at 5:00 pm and includes food, beverage, art and film program.

#GETMAD: JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Women Incarcerated  

Join us for our first panel discussion, which will include Conviction’s filmmaker Ariella Pahlke, subject Tanya Bignell, guests with lived experience of incarceration, Canadian Senator Kim Pate, and representatives from the Elizabeth Fry Society. Moderated by Orev Reena Katz, a Mental Health Correctional Chaplain, they will discuss the various realities and difficulties for women living with mental health issues within a correctional facility. Why are women the fastest growing segment of the prison system in Canada? How do we support, encourage and make space for the growth of women on the inside?

PANELISTS

Orev Reena
Katz
Moderator
Lucy
Gudgeon
Elizabeth Fry representative
McKenzie
Whiteman
Elizabeth Fry representative
Tanya
Bignell
Film subject
Ariella
Pahlke
Filmmaker
Kim
Pate
Canadian Senator
CO-PRESENTERS
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