The Infernal Grove is an unsystematic structural analysis of drug use, addiction and recovery (and not necessarily in that order). This free online user group is an unstructured meeting where people are encouraged to talk about their relationships with drugs/alcohol and sobriety.

All are welcome. No particular topic, except the ones participants wish to bring to the virtual table. 

User Groups are informal meetings where participants share their experiences and perspectives on drugs/alcohol, addiction/sobriety and everything in between. All are welcome to join the conversation. This month, we’ll open with a short presentation on the sensibilities and principles that have animated our work so far, and how we hope the project will unfold going forward.

Join us for this special edition of User Group as part of the Rendezvous with Madness Festival!

For more information about The Infernal Grove please visit www.theinfernalgrove.com

This interactive, 2-hour virtual workshop offers a space to share what has been arising for us during the festival and explore how this year’s festival theme, Shine ; Together, shows up in our lives.

Shine ; Together as a theme invites us to shine a light on our narratives surrounding mental health, addictions and recovery. Through creative expression we shine a light making room for complexities and nuances; in gathering as a community, we hope to create an alliance by healing together. 

The hosts and co-creators of The Gathering, Katt Topolniski, Ellen Snowball Alys McLeod and Petra Dolman will hold the space and gently guide the conversation.

They will open and close the event with simple somatic embodiment practices to support our presence in the shared space and grounding as we depart.

‘In this bold 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, Artist Steve 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.’

– Geoff Pevere 

Film subjects + actors: Marina Black, Maria de Sanctis, Janieta Eyre, Michael Hoolboom, Vivien Kiss, Lulu Hazel Turnbull, Emily Vey Duke.

Filmmaker: Steve Sanguedolce has been an active member of Toronto’s independent film community for over thirty years winning numerous international awards.  He has had retrospectives at the Cinematheque Quebecoise in Montreal, the National Film Board in Toronto as well as the the Arsenal Institute for Film and Video in Germany.  Over the past 15 years he has been hand developing and hand colouring motion picture film to great acclaim.  Much of his time has been spent teaching at local universities, community colleges or conducting independent filmmaking workshops across Canada..  His work incorporates documentary, narrative and experimental genres.  His film work include Blinding (2011), Dead Time (2005), Smack (2000) and Away (1996). He lives Toronto. 

Programmer: Scott Miller Berry, Managing Director and Programmer, Rendezvous with Madness, Toronto, Canada.  Scott has been working at film festivals for 20+ years – previously as Director of the Images Festival and now at Rendezvous. He’s also a film programmer, instructor and mentor. Since 2009 he has presented touring screenings in Jakarta, Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Bangalore, Bangkok and Amsterdam, among others. Scott also makes short diary films and is on the Board of the Toronto Media Arts Centre and Long Winter Music + Arts Festival.

Rendezvous With Madness và Hoa Quynh Cinema giới thiệu:

“LAND OF KNOWING NOTHING” (Steve Sanguedolce, 2017, 72 phút)

“Trong bộ phim tài liệu thể nghiệm táo bạo này, bốn nghệ sĩ nói về tự tử: ý nghĩ về việc tái diễn nó đã đóng vai trò như nào trong cuộc sống và trong các thực hành nghệ thuật của họ, những khó khăn để hiểu và vượt qua được cám dỗ của cái chết cũng như cuộc đấu tranh trường kỳ với sự kỳ thị đã khiến khái niệm về tự tử bị bỏ qua như nào trong các cuộc thảo luận về sức khỏe tâm thần. Với sự chân thành mãnh liệt, những nhân vật của tác giả Steve Sanguedolce đã kể lại câu chuyện của mình trong phim. Bằng việc phản hồi lại những câu chuyện đó qua một đường dây hình ảnh ấn tượng, nhà làm phim đem đến cho chúng ta một trải nghiệm mang tính cá nhân hiếm thấy khi đưa người xem trực tiếp tiếp cận với câu chuyện qua một trong những phương diện dễ bị hiểu lầm nhất: cảm thức thấu hiểu từ góc nhìn thứ nhất.” – Geoff Pevere

 – Geoff Pevere

Phim nói tiếng Anh và phụ đề tiếng Việt

Thời gian: 7h30 tối thứ bảy, 9 tháng 12 

Địa điểm: babau AIR, 82A Thợ Nhuộm

Buổi chiếu phim sẽ có sự tham gia góp mặt của tác giả Steve Sanguedolce và giám tuyển chương trình Scott Miller Berry, Giám đốc điều hành và người sáng lập chương trình Rendezvous with Madness, Toronto, Canada.

Steve Sanguedolce là một thành viên tích cực trong cộng đồng phim độc lập của Toronto trong hơn ba mươi năm và đã giành nhiều giải thưởng quốc tế. Anh đã có các buổi triển lãm tại Cinematheque Quebecoise ở Montreal, National Film Board ở Toronto cũng như Arsenal Institute for Film and Video ở Đức. Trong 15 năm qua, anh đã tự tráng rửa, tô màu bằng tay cho những bộ phim và nhận được sự khen ngợi nồng nhiệt. Anh đã dành nhiều thời gian giảng dạy tại các trường đại học địa phương, trường cao đẳng cộng đồng hoặc tổ chức các khóa học làm phim độc lập trên khắp Canada. Công việc của anh bao gồm các thể loại phim tài liệu, phim truyện và thử nghiệm. Các tác phẩm điện ảnh của anh bao gồm Blinding (2011), Dead Time (2005), Smack (2000) và Away (1996). Anh hiện sống ở Toronto. 

Scott Miller Berry, Giám đốc điều hành và người sáng lập chương trình Rendezvous with Madness, Toronto, Canada. Scott đã và đang làm việc tại các liên hoan phim trong hơn 20 năm – nguyên giám đốc của The Images Festival và hiện làm việc tại Rendezvous. Anh cũng là một film programmer, giảng viên và người hướng dẫn. Kể từ năm 2009, anh đã tổ chức các buổi chiếu phim diễn tại Jakarta, Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Bangalore, Bangkok và Amsterdam, và nhiều nơi khác. Scott cũng làm phim ngắn nhật ký và là thành viên Hội đồng Quản trị của Trung tâm Nghệ thuật Truyền thông Toronto và Liên hoan Âm nhạc và Nghệ thuật Long Winter.

GENRE: DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE), DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
KEYWORDS: NEURODIVERGENCY | SIGN LANGUAGE | FAMILY

Janet Sharrock and Buddha Barnes are in dire need of a holiday, but the universe has other plans. Together, along with the couple’s five adult children, they form a blended, neurodiverse family. Their exhausted and cash-strapped family must routinely navigate financial hardships in addition to the challenges that neurodivergent individuals face day-to-day. Their modest lives aren’t society’s ideal, but they never stop fighting to make it work.

Because We Have Each Other tells a tender tale about seven people overcoming adversity by putting their unwavering love and support for one another above all else. Australian filmmaker Sari Braithwaite’s documentary paints an intimate portrait of working-class struggle. Braithwaite places an achingly revealing spotlight on the forces that strengthen and weaken family bonds. Because We Have Each Other delivers a heartfelt and inspiring tale about how unconditional love and acceptance help people find resilience in the face of life’s greatest challenges.

Screening with Short Film

Regard Silence | Santiago Zermeño | Mexico | Doc | 2022 | 29 minutes | Spanish with English subtitles with open captions

Regard Silence shows several deaf people participating in a poetry workshop. Their attempts to express themselves are alternated in the film with individual interviews about being a deaf person communicating in a hearing world. How does it affect one’s sense of self-worth to learn sign language after years of lip reading? – IDFA

GENRE: VARIOUS
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
KEYWORKDS: ADDICTION | TRAUMA | MENTAL HEALTH | YOUTH

For the sixth consecutive year, If You Ask Me (IYAM) has supported emerging filmmakers with lived mental health and/or addiction experience to create new short works. This year’s program features shorts by filmmakers from across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). 

These new films were developed from July – September 2023 under the guidance of Robin Riad, along with IYAM alumni Gladys Lou and Esteban Powell serving as mentors. Over the course of three months, filmmakers strengthened their film production skills in the company of peers and industry guests. Rendezvous With Madness is excited to support the production and exhibition of these distinctly personal creative works. 

Equipment rentals and facilities were generously provided by our community sponsor, Trinity Square Video.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION: FILMMAKING NOW

The world has changed substantially since If You Ask Me started. This year’s cohort of filmmakers adapted their practices to ever-changing social realities. Join the in-person panel discussion to learn how each artist developed their films.

GENRE: DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE), DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
KEYWORDS: BIPOLAR DISORDER | SCHIZOPHRENIA | MISSING PERSON | FAMILY | UNORTHODOX TREATMENT

Noella Luka’s riveting autobiographical documentary deftly explores the grief of dreams diverted by a bipolar diagnosis and the vulnerability of searching for the right support and community while navigating new and difficult life changes. Her plans to live and work in film abroad are cut short by her initial hospitalization, and she returns home to Kenya where mental health issues remain strictly taboo. Once there, she decides to document and dig into the how and why of her condition, running up against tradition, prejudice, and uncertainty, which makes even discussing the subject of illness uncomfortable for both family and friends. With a lack of references to guide them, those close to her are truly unsure of what this shift in circumstance really means. Undaunted, Luka looks for further understanding and a sense of community in a mental health support group, where she befriends newly diagnosed schizophrenic Nick–a man who recently returned home from Colombia after putting an end to his quest to become a Catholic priest. Through Nick, viewers are given a unique and disturbing opportunity to observe how certain mental illnesses are still viewed and treated, even in the 21st century. In exploring their unique situations, Luka gives voice to all those navigating the often uncharted waters of mental health–for those both with and without support systems in place–and offers a truly inspiring story of hope, change and possibility.

Screening with Short Film

Katanga Nation | Beza Hailu Lemma, Hiwot Admasu Getaneh | Ethiopia, South Africa | Doc | 2022 | 26 minutes | Amharic with English Subtitles 

Enkehone, naive but ambitious and from rural Ethiopia, lives in a hostel in the bustling neighborhood of Katanga. His host, Amele, lives in the back room of the dorms she rents out. As the path to his dreams unfold in uncertainty, Enkehone witnesses the raw, chaotic, and captivating life of his host family and their community in the last days of Katanga before it is engulfed by the monstrous construction of Addis Ababa.

GENRE: DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE), DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
KEYWORDS: TRAUMA | HEALING | ILLNESS | FAMILIES | MENTAL HEALTH

It’s never easy to talk about mortality with our loved ones. It’s even harder between a physician mother who excels at hiding her emotions under rationality and a daughter who spent her childhood solving math problems next to the morgue. They avoid conversation about mortality and related feelings at all costs – until the mother becomes a cancer patient and the daughter becomes her caregiver.

Screening with Short Film

Uproot | Queena Liu | Canada | Doc | 2023 | 11 minutes English and Cantonese with English subtitles 

“Ten years ago, my dad was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in his forties and spent two years in and out of a psychiatric hospital. This film documents my first time having an open and honest conversation with my family about his diagnosis that I never could as a child and explores how mental health care in immigrant communities is often complicated by a cultural and generational divide. Even as I gain a new perspective on my family’s silent struggles, putting together my interpretation of their stories, I still feel the need to hide myself behind the camera.”

GENRE: DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE) | DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
KEYWORDS: INDIGENOUS ISSUES | TRAUMA | FAMILY | HEALING

“I’m a descendent of a people who have more or less disappeared, all that’s left are a few indigenous and mixed-race people dotted around the world”. Having arrived in Europe at the age of 19 and lived in Brussels for many years, Colombian Sergio Guataquira Sarmiento carries a complex idea of his identity deep inside of him, because not only is he living in exile, he’s also an Indian, and “being an Indian person in Colombia is a burden, a source of shame, so we tend to lie low and westernise ourselves.” When the filmmaker learns that an epidemic of young indigenous people hanging themselves is raging through the jungle in his home country, he decides to visit the area in person, moved by a desire to investigate this phenomenon, but also to untangle his own confused feelings related to his roots” – ​​Fabien Lemercier (Cineuropa)

Screening with Short Film

Love and the Art of Despair | 2023 | Tara Grundmanis | Canada | 9 minutes | English with open captions

Love and the Art of Despair is a profile on Rebeccah Love; a Toronto based filmmaker who perseveres over mental and physical illness to create art.

GENRE: DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE), DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
KEYWORDS: AGING | DEMENTIA | GRIEF | FAMILY

German filmmaker Astrid Menzel makes her feature-length documentary debut with this incredibly personal and moving story of loss, love, and legacy. Following the death of her beloved grandfather E.O., the director and her brother embark on a 10-day canoe trip through the North of Germany with their widowed 86-year-old grandmother–a woman slowly succumbing to progressive dementia. Looking for some semblance of control at a time when grief seems insurmountable and change never-ending, a determined Menzel invites her grandmother to become a part of the planning and organization, looking for ways to connect with and involve her simultaneously. Eventually, the unlikely trio set out on a unique, emotional and unflinchingly honest journey that helps all three uncover different and changing perspectives on their existing relationships. With some distance and time come a little patience, unexpected joy and sorrow, and a brand new understanding of exactly what being there for someone you care about truly means.

Streams (online only) with Short Film:

White Noise | Tamara Scherbak | Canada | Drama | 2023 | 18 minutes | English with open captions

White Noise follows Ava, who suffers from misophonia – an extreme hyper-sensitivity to sound. When this reaches new terrifying heights, her doctor enrolls her in an experimental trial involving an anechoic chamber: the world’s quietest room.

PANEL

After the film enjoy a conversation with the film’s director Astrid Menzel; moderated by Jutta Brendemuehl from the Goethe Institut, Toronto.

Genre: DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE), DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)
TYPE: FILM | IN-PERSON
Keywords: TRAUMA | TRANS RIGHTS | MURDER | SEX WORK

Kenya is an intimate portrait of a transgender female sex worker whose fate changes when faced with the transfeminicide of her sex worker partner. I came to this story with the intention of talking about the violence that trans women experience in Mexico, but the struggle in Kenya overcame violence and overcame all the systemic and structural limits that keep these women on the margins of society. Kenya is a film that brings us closer to a world full of darkness, which little by little is filled with light through the actions of the protagonist, her conviction to fight, and her humanity. Kenya is an intimate and powerful portrait that gains dimension and strength as this story progresses, which in its bowels reveals the violence experienced by trans women in Mexico, this being the country with the second most hate crimes due to transphobia in the world.

Screening with Short Film

Nicole | Chadi Bennani | Canada | 2023 | 23 minutes | French with English Subtitles and open captions

In this touching documentary, filmmaker Chadi Bennani accompanies his mother, Dominique, as she sets out to empty Nicole’s apartment, her mother who passed two years prior. Through their discoveries, Dominique and Chadi share their memories of Nicole, as well as their apprehensions of a future without her.