Women-identified people’s relationship with madness has always been distinct; from the archetypal ‘madwoman in the attic,’ to individual experiences of womxn consumers / survivors / ex-inmates, to the ‘mad’ cultural expectations of femininity in everyday life. Throughout Western history women have been viewed as irrational, their bodies designated as aberrant and posited as the cause of mental disturbances, e.g. hysteria. At the intersections of racialization and transphobia, the confluence of mental illness and femme becomes even more fraught and perilous.

Panic Attack and Regarding the Pain of Others ask questions about how patriarchal capitalism’s expectations of womxn erode their sanity, and how humour and empathy may offer complex ways to subvert them. Originally screened in a gallery context with the viewer atop an exercise bike, Graft and Ash delves deeper into the ways in which productivity culture and white supremacy enact subtle and explicit violence upon Black femme bodies and psyches. I Want to Kill Myself and Better for Me are personal accounts of the deep pain of living through depression and psychosis respectively; gender identity, family and the power of music are threads and lifelines running through them. Trouble is a second-person portrayal whereby the artist’s mother tersely recounts her diagnosis of bipolar disorder and her gratitude for the ability to manage it. Where There is Room to Bloom uses self-love, ancestral knowledge and Black spiritualism to move through multigenerational trauma, and to imagine a new world full of beauty and the psychological space necessary to thrive.

Panic Attack
Eileen O’Meara | 2018 | USA | English | 3 minutes

Watching the Pain of Others
Chloé Galibert-Laîné | 2019 | France | French and English with English subtitles | 31 minutes

Trouble
Camille Pueyo | 2020 | France | French with English subtitles | 3 minutes

Better for Me
Alexandra Douglas | 2020 | Canada | English | 11 minutes

I Want to Kill Myself
Vivek Shraya | 2017 | Canada | English | 9 minutes

Where There is Room to Bloom 
Kelisha Daley | 2020 | Canada | English | 7 minutes 

Following the screening of Madwomxn, join Kelisha Daley, Alexandra Douglas, Chloé Galibert-Laîné, Eileen O’Meara and Camille Pueyo to discuss their short films.

La version française suvira.

In the Saint-Alban psychiatric clinic in France’s Lozère region, they didn’t use straightjackets, solitary confinement or other forms of coercion. Patients moved freely, received ergonomic therapy, worked at a nearby farm and even went on trips with supervisors. During World War II, the institute also housed refugees, including many Jews.

Weaving recently discovered archival materials with current interviews, this captivating documentary presents the instigators of such unconventional approaches between 1936 and the mid-1970s: Spanish Dr. Tosquelles, a communist persecuted by Franco, and his colleague Lucien Bonaffé, both pioneers of ‘institutional psychology’. They emphasized social and cultural activities that supported patients in different ways – a fruitful approach that has since fallen out of favour, but which was also a source of inspiration for surrealists like Paul Éluard, Art Brut pioneer Jean Dubuffet and trailblazer of de-colonisation theories, Frantz Fanon. Although over 45,000 psychiatric patients died in French hospitals between 1939-1945; Les heures heureuses is a testament and urgent appeal to apply courageousness and inventiveness in today’s mental health healing spaces.

A l’hôpital psychiatrique de Saint-Alban dans le département de la Lozère en France, il n’y avait pas de camisole de force, pas d’enfermement solitaire ni d’autres formes d’oppression. Les patients se déplaçaient librement, bénéficiaient d’une thérapie ergonomique, travaillaient dans une ferme avoisinante et faisaient même des excursions avec leurs soignants. Pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, l’institution avait abrité des réfugiés parmi lesquels de nombreux juifs.

Conjuguant des archives récemment retrouvées avec des entrevues actuelles, ce documentaire passionnant s’intéresse aux novateurs de ces démarches atypiques entre 1936 et le milieu des années 70 : le docteur espagnol Tosquelles, communiste persécuté par Franco, et son collègue Lucien Bonaffé, tous deux des pionniers de « la psychologie institutionnelle ». Ils mettaient en valeur les activités sociales et culturelles qui aidaient leurs patients de diverses manières – une démarche bénéfique qui a été mise de côté depuis mais qui fut aussi une source d’inspiration pour les surréalistes comme Paul Éluard ou pour le pionnier de l’Art Brut Jean Dubuffet ou encore pour l’initiateur des théories de la décolonisation Franz Fanon. Bien que plus de 45,000 internés soient morts dans les hôpitaux psychiatriques français entre 1936 et 1945, Les heures heureuses s’érige en témoignage et constitue un appel urgent au courage et à la créativité dans les lieux actuels de thérapie de santé mentale.

Screening with

Les Voix du dedans
Elina Chared | 2019 | France | French with English subtitles | 25 mins
Elina Chared/2019/France/Français-sous-titres anglais/25 min

A portrait film of a woman who fights to exist in tandem with her gift for hearing voices. In a cinematic verité glimpse of daily life, somewhere between suffering, optimism and recovery. Marieanne intimately conveys how she continually re-creates, performs and sometimes loses faith.

Un film portrait d’une femme qui lutte pour vivre en tandem avec sa faculté d’entendre des voix. Dans cet aperçu du genre cinéma vérité de sa vie quotidienne, quelque part entre souffrance, optimisme et reconstruction, Marianne explique en détails comment, continuellement,  elle se réinvente, agit et quelque fois perd confiance

Following the screening of Les heures heureuses, join filmmaker Martine Deyres to discuss her latest film and her remarkable use of archival material to tell the story of the French psychiatric institution Saint-Alban.

Après avoir visionné le film Les heures heureuses, retrouvez la documentariste Martine Deyres pour discuter de son dernier film et de son remarquable travail d’archives qui racontent l’histoire de l’hôpital psychiatrique français de Saint-Alban.

Nocturne is the story of a family. The documentary follows Seong-ho, a young piano virtuoso living with autism. With an extraordinary talent in music, his mother and primary caretaker dedicates her whole life building a career for her son as a professional musician. In contrast, Seong-ho’s younger brother, Gun-ki is relegated to a world of video games and television. Gun-ki’s resentment slowly begins to grow when he is forced to give up his own interest in music to maintain Seong-ho’s spotlight. Moreover, Gun-ki feels like he has been neglected by his mother, who spends most of her time taking care of Seong-ho and trying to advance his career. When the two brothers embark on an independent European trip, the already contentious brotherly relationship crashes into chaos. It also poses some difficult questions: what will happen to Seong-ho if his mother is no longer there? Will Gun-ki have his back, or will his music legacy crumble?

Screening with

Animal Calling
Candice Dixon | 2020 | Canada | English | 6 minutes | Ontario Premiere

A short documentary following a recently-graduated, young veterinarian as she enjoys a rare, relaxing morning in her serene country home. As she reflects on the mental health crisis currently impacting veterinary medicine, we’re intermittently transported to her place of work and shown the emotional and psychological challenges faced by those working in animal care.

Sibling dynamics are unique by nature; sometimes, it swings from moments of companionship to moments of competition. In the case of the family in Nocturne, the subject of autism adds another layer of relational negotiation as they seek to understand how to manage acts of care and responsibility. What are some of the realities that individuals on the autism spectrum face when they navigate the world independently and what pressures and expectations do their core support networks face? Join moderator Kat Singer and panelists Azed Majeed and Aidan Lee as they dive deeper into how these complexities are presented in Nocturne.

The World is Bright follows the real-life journey of an elderly Chinese couple searching for the truth behind their son Shi-Ming’s sudden death in Canada. Shi-Ming was buried before his parents living in Beijing were notified. Over ten years, director Ying Wang documents Shi-Ming’s parents as they enter a long and arduous legal battle to understand how their son – a young Canadian immigrant – could have died. Shi-Ming’s parents are resilient in their search for truth despite language barriers and overly bureaucratic and complex processes they have to endure. The film uses re-enactments and interviews with Shi-Ming’s friends and family to thoroughly examine the intersection of immigration, family expectations and mental health. While attentively portraying the emotional and physical pains Shi-Ming’s parents go through to try and solve this case, The World is Bright exposes some ugly truths about the Canadian immigration system and its treatment of newcomers living with mental health issues.

Join us for a virtual panel with The World is Bright director Ying Wang, Shi-Ming’s family lawyer Lawrence Wong, Dr. Kenneth Fung, Clinical Director of Asian Initiative in Mental Health Program at TWH, and Bonnie Wong, Executive Director of Hong Fook Mental Health Association. The speakers will discuss mental health within immigrant communities in Canada and delve into different ways Canadian immigration law fails to accommodate and support newcomers with mental health experiences.

Set in the stunning landscape of the Lesotho mountains, this unique film follows the story of an 80-year-old widow, Mantoa. Mantoa eagerly awaits her son’s return from work in the mines; instead, she learns of his death. Her immense grief is framed within the Provincial decree to relocate her village in order for development of a dam and reservoir, threatening to flood and erase everything that she holds dear. Mantoa takes up a spiritual mantle and fights for the land, community and her desire to bury her child on the land they were raised on. A colourful, heartfelt and personal story full of the strength, history and the power of this lone matriarch in the face of great change. Taking her last stand, Mantoa asserts her way of life, where the living and the dead stand together to bear witness to the changing landscape, making us question the price of progress.

Avant-garde filmmaker Maya Deren, once famously remarked: “Cameras do not make films; filmmakers make films.”

Featuring Workman Arts Members: Gerald Mackenzie, Brian Demoskoff, Genova, Emily Sweet, Jaene Castrillon and a special quarantine omnibus from the 2020 film class; this imaginative and exciting shorts program showcases the endless bounds of filmmaking as a creative outlet. Together through their willingness to creatively explore their surroundings and even document their daily-lives during a global pandemic, these film-makers prove that the most critical equipment for filmmaking is yourself, your imaginative mind, and your freedom to use both.

Programme
A Lasting Impact, by Emily Sweet, 5 minutes
All This Time, by Genova, 10 minutes
Blood Downer, by Gerald Mackenzie, 10 minutes
Naomi Hendrickje Laufer’s Dormant filmed by Brian Demoskoff, 3 minutes
Respect, by Jaene Castrillon, 45 minutes
Quarantine Blues, by Susan Lieberman, Gerald Mackenzie, Amy Ness, Omar Samara, Emily Sweet and Lucy Drumonde, 21 minutes

Support for this streaming program provided by Toronto Arts Council’s Open Door Program with special thanks to VUCAVU.

Join the filmmakers for a virtual Q&A on Friday, Oct 16, at 4:00 pm.

Veins of the World is a wondrous coming of age tale that describes living in harmony with nature and the financial instabilities of maintaining the traditions of nomadic people. Amra is 11 years old — and suffers from an eye condition that will blind him in the near future. Growing up in the Mongolian steppe (itself a co-star of this gorgeous landscape film), Amra’s father Erdene is the local leader opposing global companies’ mining and gold extraction. Without intervention, his father’s workshop will soon close, yet despite these challenges Amra still dreams of someday singing on television in Mongolia’s Got Talent. However, the fight against resource exploitation in an unstable environment quickly challenges the young boy’s electric talents. Director Byambasuren Davaa’s (The Story of the Weeping Camel) first fiction feature premiered at the Berlin Film Festival then screened at the Marché du Film Online in Cannes and is a captivating story about family and community challenging the constant march of capitalism and environmental exploitation.

Screening with 

Blues Side on the Blue Sky
Rachmat Hidayat Mustamin | 2018 | Indonesia | Indonesian with English subtitles | 15 minutes

In a manifestation of visual poetry, Blues Side on The Blue Sky tells the story of a mother who tries to save her daughter.

Join us for a virtual panel with Leah Gardner from JCAP, Jamie Kneen from Mining Watch Canada and Rachel Small from Mining Injustice Solidarity Network.