Film still from Home Movies Gaza by Basma Alsharif. Courtesy the artist.

What does it mean to be normal in a world gone mad? That’s the question at the heart of writer-director Michelle Melles’ poignant documentary, Drunk on Too Much Life. The film strives to change how people perceive those with mental health issues, framing their conditions as potentially insightful gifts rather than burdensome disorders.

Drunk on Too Much Life focuses on Melles’ daughter, Corrina, a young woman who experiences intense and sometimes painful emotional and psychic states. Corrina describes herself as “being trapped inside her own mind games.” Now, after years of doctors, medications and mental health facility check-ins, her family starts exploring healing methods outside of standard biomedical models. These holistic methods positively impact Corrina, reflecting the healing power of art, creativity and meaningful human connection.

SCREENING WITH SOUND GARDEN
Jeamin Cha | 2019 | South Korea | 30 min | Korean with English subtitles
Sound Garden alternates between scenes of large trees being transported and interviews with South Korean female
mental health workers who reflect on counselling’s ambivalence and complexity. The film highlights
the discrepancy between these cultivated trees, designed to thrive in urban surroundings, and the
human spirit, shaped and affected by our modern values and evolving social environments.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION: PANEL DISCUSSION
Join director Michelle Melles and family members Corinna and Kevin virtually as they share their
thoughts on this personal documentary. They’ll be joined by others and will delve into different
ways Canadian mental health programs and health care succeeds and fails to accommodate and
support young people in their healing.

Keywords: Alternative healing | Family | Health care | Schizophrenia | Trauma

Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy chronicles the impact of the opioid crisis on Indigenous community. Tailfeathers focuses on Alberta’s Kainai First Nation, where her mother, Dr. Esther Tailfeathers, works tirelessly to support and educate families affected by the overdose epidemic. The film presents viewers with a series of first-hand accounts from local first responders, healthcare professionals, and people with substance-use disorder.

Kímmapiiyipitssini is a Blackfoot word for empathy and kindness. The Meaning of Empathy explains why embracing this practice is critical to combating addictions. Criminalizing drug use does not address the root problem; a legacy of colonialism and intergenerational trauma inflicted by racist government policies. The film reveals the merits of this new approach, even as it faces resistance from conservative policymakers. Tailfeathers has crafted one of the year’s most powerful films, chronicling the Kainai First Nation’s struggles, while honouring their strength and resilience.

SCREENING WITH JOE BUFFALO
Amar Chebib| 2020 | Canada | English | 16 min
Joe Buffalo is a prolific Indigenous skateboarder. He’s also a survivor of Canada’s notorious Indian Residential School system. Following a traumatic childhood and decades of addiction, Joe must face his inner demons to realize his dream of turning pro.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION: DISCUSSING EMPATHY

Join us at 8:30 pm ET for a live Zoom panel discussion featuring Dr. Tailfeathers and Lori Eagle Plume, who will discuss the idea of empathy being a powerful tool for combatting addiction; conversation moderated by Alexandra Lazarowich.

Alexandra Lazarowich is an award-winning Cree filmmaker from northern Alberta. Her short film Fast Horse was honoured with The Special Jury Prize for Directing at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Her body of work as director and producer includes LAKE, Indian Rights for Indian Women, Cree Code Talker and Empty Metal. She is the series producer for the CBC’s multi-award-winning comedy documentary series Still Standing and is one of the co-founders of COUSIN Collective.

Keywords: Addiction | Displacement | Harm reduction | Healthcare | Indigenous rights | Trauma

Rendezvous is thrilled to be presenting a spotlight on Thirza Cuthand, a prolific artist who works
across multiple disciplines to explore interconnected issues related to madness, queer identities,
Indigeneity, and oh yes, sex and sexuality.

EXTRACTIONS (2020 | 15 min) A personal film about so-called Canada’s extraction industries and
the detrimental effects on the land and Indigenous peoples.

ANHEDONIA (2001 | 9 min) Depression and suicide are met head on in this confessional piece.
Anhedonia urges the viewer to open their eyes to the source of illness in Indigenous communities.

SIGHT (2012 | 3 min) Super 8 footage layered with Sharpie marker lines and circles obscuring the
image illustrates the filmmaker’s experiences with temporary episodes of migraine-related blindness
and her cousin’s self-induced blindness..

LOVE & NUMBERS (2004 | 8 min) A Two Spirited woman surrounded by spy signals and psychiatric
walls attempts to make sense of love, global paranoia and her place in the history of colonialism.

LESS LETHAL FETISHES (2019 | 9 min) “Not a sex video. Maybe a sexy video? About a latent gas
mask fetish, but maybe actually about a certain art world tear gas controversy the filmmaker was
involved in.” – T.C.

MEDICINE BUNDLE (2020 | 9 min) “A film about a bundle that was used in my family to heal by Great
Great Grandfather from a smallpox epidemic and a life threatening wound from a gun used against
him during the Battle of Cutknife Hill in 1885.” – T.C.

WOMAN DRESS (2019 | 6 min) A montage of archival images and dramatized re-enactments, this
film shares a Cuthand family oral story, honouring and respecting Woman Dress without imposing
colonial binaries on them.

NEUROTRANSMITTING (2021 | 8 min) In her most recent piece to date, Cuthand and her mother,
Ruth, explore wellness as it connects to mental health, psychiatric institutions, family and the medical
industrial complex. The intimate conversation is held over a backdrop of Ruth’s beaded scans of brains
affected by mental illness.

Keywords: Class | Environmental extraction | Gender | Indigeneity | Trauma

JOIN THE CONVERSATION:
Q&A WITH THIRZA CUTHAND

Please join artist Thirza Cuthand for a live
and virtual Q&A to discuss their film and art practices. The discussion will be moderated by local Indigenous media artist and cultural worker Ariel Smith.

دشت خاموش
كارگردان: احمد بهرامي
ايران – ٢٠٢٠
نمايش حضوري ، براي اولين بار در تورنتو – ١٠٣ دقيقه
زيرنويس انگليسي
يكشنبه، ٧ نوامبر ، ساعت ٦ تا ٩ شب
پاسخ و پرسش پس از مشاهده فيلم

در يك كوره (كارخانه) آجرپزي دورافتاده، آجرها بصورت بسيار ابتدايی و سنتى تهيه ميشوند. خانواده هاى متعددى از اقليت هاي مختلف قومي
در اين كارخانه مشغول به کار هستند. به نظر ميرسد كه صاحب كارخانه گشاينده مشکالت اعضاى اين خانواده ها نيز ميباشد. لطف هللا چهل ساله،
كه در همين محوطه بدنيا آمده مسئوليت كارخانه را بعهده دارد و رابط بين كارگران و صاحب كارخانه نيز هست. همزمان با قطعي شدن تعطيل
كارخانه روابط بين لطف هللا، كارگران و صاحب كار نيز روز به روز پيچيده تر ميشود . او دائما مجبور است كه باالنسى بين نيازهاى شخصى
خود، ساير كارگران و احساسات عاشقانه موجود در ميان آنها بوجود آورد. اين دومين فيلم احمد بهرامى ، با ويژگيهاى فيلمبرداری سياه و سفيد
نگاهى موشكافانه به جزئيات زندگي حاشيه نشينان جامعه ايران دارد که در چرخه ای از تکرار کار بيهوده در کارخانه به تصوير کشيده ميشوند.
“پدر من كارگر يك كارخانه صنعتى بود كه پس از سى سال كار بسيار سخت باز نشسته شد. به پدرم افتخار ميكنم و پس از آنكه حرفه فيلمسازي
را آموختم هميشه ميخواستم كه فيلمى در مورد او و زحمات شرافتمندانه اش تهيه كنم. فيلم دشت خاموش قدرداني از پدرم و همه كارگران زحمتكش
در دنياست كه بدون زحمات إنها پيشرفت تمدن جهاني تا به اين ميزان ميسر نمى شد.” (احمد بهرامى.)
پذيرايي و برنامه پيش از اكران توسط سازمان I2CRC تهيه شده است.
بليط: ٢٠ دالر (شامل غذا، برنامه هنري، بازديد از نمايشگاه، فيلم و گفتگو با پنل متخصصين)
تماس براى تهيه بليط و كسب ساير اطالعات:
416-388-9314 Info@i2crc.org
به گفتگو بپيونديد- پنل متخصصين
پس از اكران فيلم دشت خاموش كه به چندگانگي ارتباطات بين حرفه، طبقه اجتماعي و سالمت مي پردازد، I2CRC از شما دعوت ميكند كه به
بررسي فيلم ، گفتگو و پرسش و پاسخ توسط متخصصين بپيونديد .
اين بخش به زبانهاي فارسي، انگليسي، ASL و زيرنويس ارائه ميشود.

كارگردان∫†احمد†بهرامي

ايران†≠†٢٠٢٠

نمايش†حضوري†،†براي†اولين†بار†در†تورنتو†≠†١٠٣†دقيقه

زيرنويس†انگليسي

يكشنبه،†٧†نوامبر†،†ساعت†٦†تا†٩†شب

پاسخ†و†پرسش†پس†از†مشاهده†فيلم

A remote brick manufacturing factory produces bricks in an ancient way. Many families with different
ethnicities work in the factory and the boss seems to hold the key to solving their problems. Forty-
year-old Lotfollah, who was born on-site, is the factory supervisor and acts as middleman for the
workers and the boss which is increasingly complicated once the factory is confirmed to close. Lotfollah must balance his personal needs with those of his coworkers and romantic interests. Ahmad Bahrami’s second film, shot with resonant black & white photography is an incisive look at life on the outskirts of Iranian society hidden within a creative piece of storytelling that mimics the tediousness of factory work.

“My father was a worker in an industrial factory and he retired after thirty years of hard work. I am proud
of him and since I learned filmmaking, I have always wanted to make a film about him and his honorable
efforts. My film Dashte Khamoush is a tribute to my father and all hardworking workers around the globe; without their efforts human civilization would not have achieved this level of progress.”
– Ahmad Bahrami

JOIN THE CONVERSATION: PANEL DISCUSSION
Following the screening of Dashte Khamoush / The Wasteland, join Intercultural Iranian Canadian
Resource Centre for a panel discussion about the film and the intersections of labour, class and
health. Translated between Farsi and English with ASL interpretation and captioning available.

Keywords: Anxiety | Class | Freedom | Labour